Differential Characteristics of Milk Produced in Grazing Systems and Their Impact on Dairy Products

DESCALZO, ADRIANA; ROSSETTI, LUCIANA; PAEZ, ROXANA; GRIGIONI, GABRIELA; GARCIA, PILAR TERESA; COSTABEL, LUCIANA; NEGRI, LIVIA; ANTONACCI. LILIANA; SALADO, ELOY; BRETSCHNEIDER, GUSTAVO; GAGLIOSTRO, GERARDO; COMERON, EDUARDO; TAVERNA MIGUEL

MILK PRODUCTION 2

INTECH OPEN

Año: 2012; p. 339 - 368

Functional foods may exhibit health benefits beyond their nutritional value. Many traditional recommendations on food selection have included this view. In more recent years the interest in food with specific health benefits has greatly increased and stimulated the development of respective products for the food market. At the same time large efforts are made to substantiate health claims by validated experimental methods. Dairy products have come to play an important role in this context. Regarding the nutritional and extra nutritional characteristics of milk, it can be considered a multifunctional food product. Milk is a source of proteins, lipids, vitamins and minerals, but also exerts other beneficial properties due to the presence of numerous bio-active molecules either through the direct consumption of milk or its derivatives (Guimont and others, 1997). It is widely recognized that pasture, when efficiently grazed, is the cheapest feedstuff (Dillon, 2006) and that the cost of milk production is reduced as the proportion of grazed pasture in the diet of the cow increases (Dillon and others, 2008). Nevertheless, using pasture as the only source of food is inadequate for high milk producing cows. The lower intake of dry matter (DM) and energy would be the main cause of suboptimal production even under conditions of adequate quantity and quality of pasture (Kolver y Muller, 1998; Reis y Combs, 2000; Bargo and others, 2002).