To identify a predictor of carcass traits on the basis of associations between carcass traits and the gene polymorphism, variation in the bovine chemerin gene was investigated using PCR-single-strand conformational polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) and DNA sequencing.One SNP of A868G located in exon 2 of the Bos taurus chemerin gene was found in 716 samples of six breeds,and three genotypes (AA, AG and GG) were found.Moreover, the X2-test showed that the genotype frequencies of all six breeds were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P>0.05).The association of A868G with some carcass traits in 106 samples of Qinchuan cattle was analyzed.The results showed that animals with the AG genotype have a significantly lower mean value for loin eye area (LEA) and meat tenderness of the cattle (TD) compared to the AA and GG genotypes (P<0.05).However, there was no significant association between any individual haplotype and backfat thickness (BFT), water holding capacity (WHC) and marbling score (MS) in individuals (P>0.05).We suggest that A868G could be a molecular marker in marker-assisted selection (MAS) for carcass traits.