The objectives of this study were to estimate heritability using single trait animal model and plot the genetic
and phenotypic trends for birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW) and daily weight gains (DG) of the Egyptian
buffalo, and to detect the molecular associations of these traits with SNP genotypes of GH, PRL and FSHR
candidate genes using PCR-RFLP technique. Data of growth traits were collected from 8229 buffalo calves, in
El-Nattafe El-Gadid (NG), El-Nattafe El-Kadim (NK), El-Nubariya (EN), El-Serw (ES), El-Gimmeza (EG) and
Sids (S) herds belonged to the APRI, Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt. For the molecular associations analyses data
were collected from 174 animals in three herds only. The regressions of predicted breeding values of BW, WW
and DG on year of birth indicated slight increase in genetic trends over time (1.6 to 1.8 kg for BW, -0.519 to 1.57
kg for WW and -24 to 18 g for DG). The phenotypic trends showed slight decrease in BW, WW and DG over years
of birth (36.6 to 32.9 kg for BW, 94.55 to 94.15 kg for WW and 628 to 582 g for DG). The GLM favored
significantly TC relative to CC genotypes of GH gene. The GLM analyses for BW, WW and DG favored
significantly AA relative to GG genotype of PRL gene. The GLM differences among these genotypes for BW, WW
and DG were significantly in favour of GG genotype relative to GC and CC genotypes for FSHR gene in NG and
NK herds.