Dried stoned olive pomace (DSOP) was administered to dairy water buffaloes, and their productive performance and milk composition were analysed. Sixteen pluriparous lactating buffaloes were divided into two uniform groups (control and experimental), taking into consideration the following parameters: milk production (2,192 and 2,102 kg) and duration of lactation (254 and 252 d) of the previous year, distance from calving (51 and 43 d), milk production (9.71 and 10.18 kg/d), body condition score (BCS) (6.44 and 6.31) and weight (617 and 653 kg) at the beginning of the trial. Both diets had the same formulation: second cut alfalfa hay 20%, corn silage 42%, concentrate 38% but the two concentrates differed in their formulation, the experimental one contained 15.50% of DSOP as fed. The employed DSOP showed high amounts of secoiridoids, such as 3,4-dihydroxyphenylethanol (3,4-DHPEA) (1.2 g/kg DM), 3,4-dihydroxyphenylethanol-elenolic acid di-aldehyde (3,4-DHPEA-EDA) (12.6 g/kg DM), p-hydroxyphenylethanol-elenolic acid di-aldehyde (p-HPEA-EDA) (5.6 g/kg DM) and lignans, which are known to be powerful bioactive compounds. The control diet had an energy-protein content of 0.86 Milk FU/kg DM and 143.3 g/kg DM of crude protein, whereas the experimental diet of 0.87 Milk FU/kg DM and 146.6 g/kg DM of crude protein. Each animal of the two groups received 17 kg DM/d and each buffalo of the experimental group, by way of the concentrate, ingested 1.05 kg DM/d of DSOP. The trial lasted 40 days. No significant difference was found between the BCS (6.41 and 6.53), live weight (625.93 and 662.50 kg) and milk production (9.69 and 10.08 kg/d) of the two groups, as was the case for fat, protein, lactose, pH and coagulating parameters of the two milks. The milk fat of the experimental group had a significantly higher content of total tocopherols (10.45 vs 8.60 μg/g, p<0.01) and retinol (3.17 vs 2.54 μg/g, p<0.01). The content of the reactive substances with tiobarbituric acid (TBARs) was significantly lower in the milk fat of the experimental group (12.09 vs 15.05 μg MDA/g, p<0.01). The acid content of the milk fat of the experimental group had a significantly higher content (p<0.05) of C18:0 and of C18:3ω6. LC-MS/MS analysis showed the presence of 3,4-DHPEA (36.0 μg/L) in the milk of the DSOP-fed buffaloes, while other phenols were not found. DSOP, in the quantity utilized, can be used in the feeding of the lactating buffalo; the dietetic-nutritional characteristics of the milk are improved due to a greater contribution of tocopherols, retinol and the presence of hydroxytyrosol.

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The use of stoned olive pomace (SOP) as an unconventional feedstuff for livestock is limited by its inherently low crude protein (CP) content and by the presence of anti-nutritional compounds such as phenols. Aim of this study was to assess whether solid-state fermentation of SOP with selective lignin-degrading fungi might ameliorate nutritional properties of the waste. Incubation of SOP, mixed (25%, w/w) with various conventional feedstuffs (i.e., wheat bran, wheat middlings, barley grains, crimson clover, wheat flour shorts and field beans), with Pleurotus ostreatus and Pleurotus pulmonarius led to significant CP increases, ranging from 7 to 29%, and marked removal (from ca. 50-90%) of phenols after 6 weeks. Both species, however, led to moderate delignification associated with significant consumption of hemicelluloses. Consequently, no improvements of both organic matter digestibility (OMD) and net energy of SOP-feedstuff mixtures occurred after the fungal colonization.

Ruminal bacterial counts and in vivo digestibility were determined on four Mediterranean buffalo bulls and four Friesian bulls, all fistulated at the rumen, and given at maintenance level (50 g/kg M0·75 per day of dry matter) four different diets with the same crude protein content (N ✕ 6·25 = 140 g/kg dry matter) and with forage: concentrate ratios as follows: diet D12·5 = 0·875: 0·125; diet D25·0 = 0·75: 0·25; diet D37·5 = 0·625: 0·375; diet D50·0 = 0·5: 0·5. All the animals received the diets during four consecutive periods in a Latin-square design. Buffaloes had higher total microbial counts (10·78 v. 10·08 log10 cells per g dry rumen content, P < 0·01) as compared with cattle; differences in total ruminal bacterial counts among the diets were only observed within the buffalo species (diet D12·5 v. diets D25·0, D37·5, D50·0: 10·04 v. 10·92, 10·98, 11·17 log10 cells per g dry rumen content, P 0·01) and when comparing the two species for each diet, significantly higher values for bacterial counts in buffaloes were found for diets D25·0: 10·92 v. 10·28 (P 0·05), D37·5: 10·98 v. 10·08 (P 0·01) and D50·0: 11·17 v. 9·76 (P 0·01) log10 cells per g dry rumen content. Cattle showed significantly higher digestibility values for: organic matter (0·696 v. 0·676, P 0·05), neutral-detergent fibre (NDF; 0·548 v. 0·511, P 0·05) and cellulose (0·621 v. 0 · 509, P 0·01), while the crude protein digestibility (CPD) values were similar (0·667 and 0·671). Comparing the two species for each diet, cattle showed significantly higher digestibility values for organic matter in diet D50·0 only (0·714 v. 0·688, P 0·01), for NDF in diet D12·5 only (0·578 v. 0·531, P 0·05) and for cellulose in all diets (0·660 v. 0·546, 0·630 v. 0·525, 0·605 v. 0·505, 0·588 v. 0·460, P 0·01); in contrast buffaloes showed higher values of the CPD for diet D12·5 (0·662 v. 0·632, P 0·05).

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