Effect of parity, milking time and stage of lactation on milk yield of Jiangyue donkey (<i>Equus asinus</i>) in North West China

Muhatai, Geminguli; Cheng, Long; Rugoho, Innocent; Xiao, Guoliang; Chen, Genyuan; Hodge, Simon; Zhou, Xiaoling

doi:10.1017/s0022029916000777

Cited by 13 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The average milk yield collected is reported in Table 1 (1100 h: 585.71 ± 220.78 mL; 1700 h: 728.15 ± 171.71 mL) was in the range found for other donkey farms in Italy, for which the average individual milk yield varied between 1 and 2 L per day (Dai et al, 2017); it was also in line with previous works on the same breed (Salari et al, 2020). However, the literature varies considerably with respect to the average milk yield per milking among donkey breeds, from 172 mL for the Littoral Dinaric breed to 1,000 mL for the Jiangyue breed (Ivanković et al, 2009;Muhatai et al, 2017). These differences could be due to the absence of genetic selection for the production of milk in this species.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 88%

A preliminary investigation into the unsaponifiable fraction of donkey milk: Sterols of animal origin, phytosterols, and tocopherols

Martini

Altomonte

Licitra

et al. 2021

Journal of Dairy Science

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We investigated the main sterols, phytosterols, and the α-and γ-tocopherol content in donkey milk during the first 2 mo of lactation. Cholesterol was the main sterol in milk (mean ± standard deviation = 0.97 ± 0.443 g/100 g of fat). Lanosterol was the main minor sterol of animal origin, followed by desmosterol (0.003 ± 0.001 and 0.001 ± 0.001 g/100 g of fat, respectively). Of the phytosterols, β-sitosterol was the main sterol of vegetal origin in donkey milk (0.005 ± 0.002 g/100 g of fat), but lower levels of campesterol, brassicasterol, and stigmasterol were also recorded. Mean levels of αand γ-tocopherol were 0.01 ± 0.007 and 0.003 ± 0.001 g/100 g of fat, respectively. We observed no significant changes in sterol or tocopherol content during the first 2 mo of lactation. The presence of lanosterol in donkey milk is of particular interest, because lanosterol is a potential drug and has important physiological effects. The presence of phytosterols, which are considered nutraceutical molecules, enhances the nutritional quality of donkey milk fat for consumers.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 88%

A preliminary investigation into the unsaponifiable fraction of donkey milk: Sterols of animal origin, phytosterols, and tocopherols

Martini

Altomonte

Licitra

et al. 2021

Journal of Dairy Science

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“…In terms of the quantitative milk production, previous studies on a few mainly European and Chinese donkey breeds, have highlighted a high variability (D'alessandro and Martemucci 2012;Martini et al 2014a;Muhatai et al 2017). Several of these authors have also found that a higher milk yield occurs in the first 3 months of lactation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A multi-approach study of the performance of dairy donkey during lactation: preliminary results

Salari

Ciampolini

Mariti

et al. 2019

Italian Journal of Animal Science

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Donkey milk is known for some nutritional and nutraceutical peculiarities compared to the milks traditionally used for human nutrition. Moreover although the number of studies on donkey milk production has increased the asinine species still remains little investigated. This is the first study providing a multiple assessment approach in order to extend the knowledge on the production of donkey milk, on the haematological and milk cytological parameters during the whole span of lactation. Furthermore, this study characterised the LYZ and OXT genes. Twenty two individual milk and blood samples from Amiatina donkey were taken at one, six and ten months after parturition. Milk total proteins and caseins and ash were significantly higher at the 1 month of lactation while the urea was lower (1.88% 0.95%, 0.41% and 26.08 mg/mL respectively). Whereas lactose and fat did not significantly changed and showed average values of 6.84 ± 0.145% and 0.67 ± 0.546% respectively. pH and titratable acidity were respectively higher (7.20) and lower (0.10 g/l of lactic acid) at 10th month. The mean values of somatic cell count/ mL and of milk macrophages were low with maximum value at tenth month. The haematological parameters were stable during lactation except for mean corpuscular haemoglobin, mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration and platelet count with maximum at sixth month (respectively 20.22 pg, 36.1 g/dl, 281.16 x 10 9 /l). This study also provides for the first time a characterisation of the LYZ gene in the Amiata donkey and describes a first polymorphism at the promoter level. HIGHLIGHTS This study extends the knowledge on the production of donkey milk, on the haematological and milk cytological parameters during the whole span of lactation. The results may have economic, health and social impacts since donkey milk is primarily targeted at sensitive consumers. Lysozyme polymorphisms could have association with anti-bacterial activity in milk and the inflammatory response in the mammary gland.

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“…The influence of parity on the quantity and quality of milk has been widely demonstrated in cows, especially primiparous cows which tend to produce less milk. However, little is known about donkeys used for milk production [ 34 , 35 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Variability Factors on Hair Cortisol, Blood Count and Milk Production of Donkeys

Salari

Mariti

Altomonte

et al. 2022

Animals

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The increased interest in donkeys because of their milk has led to changes in their farm management. Little is known about the effect of the farming systems on donkey health and welfare. Measuring hair cortisol concentrations is an emerging method to assess stress in animals. To the best of our knowledge, no cortisol assessment has been done on dairy donkeys; similarly, only a few studies have investigated donkey haematological values. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of the lactation phase, parity and season on blood parameters, milk yield and quality and hair cortisol in dairy donkeys. Individual samples of milk, blood and mane hair were taken from twenty jennies at 1, 6 and 10 months after parturition. Higher values of hair cortisol were found in the first sampling, suggesting temporary stress during the peri-parturition. The parity influenced the number of blood cells, which was lower in the pluriparous jennies. The season affected milk quality and mean corpuscular haemoglobin and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration. The latters might represent the adaptation to the environmental conditions. This study contributes to a better understanding of the biochemical processes occurring in lactating jennies, and to their physiological and wellbeing status.

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Effect of parity, milking time and stage of lactation on milk yield of Jiangyue donkey (Equus asinus) in North West China

Cited by 13 publications

References 9 publications

A preliminary investigation into the unsaponifiable fraction of donkey milk: Sterols of animal origin, phytosterols, and tocopherols

A preliminary investigation into the unsaponifiable fraction of donkey milk: Sterols of animal origin, phytosterols, and tocopherols

A multi-approach study of the performance of dairy donkey during lactation: preliminary results

Impact of Variability Factors on Hair Cortisol, Blood Count and Milk Production of Donkeys

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