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Dietary manipulation of the yield and composition of milk: Effects of dietary inclusions of barley and oats in untreated or formaldehyde‐treated forms on milk fatty acid composition
Author(s) -
Martin Pamela A,
Thomas Phillip C
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.2740430205
Subject(s) - food science , composition (language) , lactose , dry matter , latin square , fatty acid , chemistry , lactation , hay , biology , zoology , rumen , biochemistry , fermentation , pregnancy , philosophy , linguistics , genetics
Eight 1st‐lactation cows were given four dietary treatments in a duplicated 4×4 Latin square experiment. Diets consisted of hay and soya bean meal together with barley, formaldehyde‐treated barley, oats or formaldehydetreated oats (approximately 34:12:54 on a dry matter basis). Barley diets supplied 211 g fatty acids d −1 , oats diets supplied 537 g d −1 . The fatty acid composition (g kg −1 total fatty acids) for barley diets was: 300 (16:0); 20 (18:0); 150 (18:1); 470 (18:2); 60 (18:3). Corresponding values for oats diets were 180, 20, 390, 380 and 30 g kg −1 . Formaldehyde treatment of the cereals tended to increase milk yield and reduce milk fat content (P<0·01 for barley) but did not affect milk fatty acid composition. Feeding oats in replacement for barley significantly (P<0·05) increased milk yield and lactose yield and reduced milk fat content (P<0·05 for the untreated cereals) and protein contents (P<0·01) without significant effects on milk fat or protein yields. Oats diets led to significant ( P <0·001) reductions in the content of 8:0–16:0 fatty acids in milk fat with associated increases ( P <0·001) in the content of 18:0 and 18:1. Changes in milk fat content of 18:2 and 18:3 acids were small. The results show the inclusion of oats in the cow's diet to be a means of reducing the saturated fatty acid content of milk fat thereby improving the nutritional value of milk and milk products and their appeal to the health‐conscious consumer.