Allele frequencies of the major milk proteins in the Finnish Ayrshire and detection of a new K‐casein variant

Summary A total of 20990 Finnish Ayrshire cows were phenotyped for the major milk proteins by isoelectric focusing in polyacrylamide gels. The predominant alleles in the Finnish Ayrshire were α S1 ‐casein B (0.999), α S2 ‐casein A (0.991), β‐casein A 1 (0.509) and α 2 (0.490), α 22 ‐casein A (0.612) and β‐lactoglobulin B (0.716). The K‐casein E allele (0.307) was also rather common in the Finnish Ayrshire. A new K‐casein variant (K‐casein F) was demonstrated in two Finnish Ayrshire cows, a dam and a daughter.