Serological Test for Determination of Parentage in Cattle

Abstract

THE antigenic individuality of red cells of cattle was noted in 1910¹, and studies conducted since 1940 by many workers have made it possible to identify more than fifty blood factors. The number of blood-group combinations is very large, and in practice it is difficult to find two individuals with the same combination. Identification of red cell antigens in cattle and knowledge of the mode of inheritance of these characters have been found to have a practical application among others in the exclusion of paternity and the control of pedigree. A condition for the efficacy of these tests is the possession by the laboratory of a large number of immune sera (reagents).