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Age Incidence and Heritability of Cancer Eye in Hereford Cattle^{1, 2,}

New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station^,5

Abstract

The age incidence of bovine cancer eye (ocular squamous carcinoma) and the inheritance of susceptibility were investigated. Records of disposal complete enough for analysis of age incidence in one herd were available for the 21-year period from 1934 to 1954 inclusive on 630 animals retained for at least one year. For inheritance studies, 415 of these animals from 209 dams and 31 sires were available.

Cancer did not occur in animals leaving the heard before they were four years old. After the age of four years, cancer occurrence increased with age significantly more than would be expected if age and occurrence were independent. No sex difference in incidence was apparent.

A score for cancer eye susceptibility was developed on the plausible assumption that the more susceptible animals tend to develop lesions at younger ages. An estimate of heritability of cancer eye susceptibility derived from the paternal half-sib correlation of these scores was 0.17. An estimate derived from the intra-sire regression of daughter's score on dam's score was 0.29. Other estimates based on regression of off-spring on sire and dam, without scoring for age incidence, were 0.30 and 0.22, respectively. Possible biases in these estimates are discussed. Further studies on age incidence, predisposing causes, and hereditary aspects of cancer eye in cattle are needed.

¹ Journal Series No. 101, New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station, State College, New Mexico.

² This study was supported in part by research grant G-1 from the American Cancer Society and grant C-1751 from the National Cancer Institute of the Public Health Service.

³ Public Health Service research fellow of the National Cancer Institute at Oklahoma A&M College, Stillwater, Oklahoma, and Member, Cancer Eye Study Section, the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute, Houston, Texas.

⁴ The authors wish to express appreciation to Dr. J. L. Lush for his helpful criticism and suggestions in the preparation of this manuscript.

⁵ Department of Animal Husbandry in cooperation with the state experiment stations and the Agricultural Research Service, USDA, under Western Regional Project W-1 on Beef Cattle Breeding Research.