Reflectance spectrum pattern of raw milk from silage and alfalfa-fed cows

L. LANGMAN; SANCHO A,; COMERON, E; DESCALZO, A; G GRIGIONI

Melbourn Australia

Congreso; IDF/DIAA Functional Dairy Foods 2009; 2009

Dairy Industry Association of Australia

Raw milk characteristics depend on milk composition, which are related to dairy cattle management: genetic, herd health, nutrition and feeding programmes. Specific compounds are transferred from fed to milk or transformed or produced by ruminal microorganisms or animals metabolism in response to specific diets (Dian et al., 2007). Carotenoids are plant pigments that cannot be synthesized by animals but can be found in animal tissues (Dian et al., 2007). These compounds are related to nutritional and sensory characteristics of milk from herbivore and could be used as biomarkers of grass feeding. Forage diets improve the content of carotenoids and vitamins in milk when compare to grain-based diets (Nozière et al., 2006). In the trial, milk from animals fed in a pasture-based diet (ALF) was compared to a diet that contains sorghum silage (SS). Grazed alfalfa is one of the most common feed in diets of lactating dairy cows in Argentina. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the discrimination performance of the reflectance spectrum of bovine milk as a function of the diet.