Milk composition and flavor under different feeding systems: A survey of dairy farms

Abstract

Understanding the influence of regional dietary factors on the flavors of milk and dairy products will provide consumers with more options and promote the conservation of regional resources and the original terroir. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of regional differences in feeding systems on the composition, fatty acid content, and flavor of pasteurized milk at the farm level. Nine dairy farms using grass silage (GS), 6 farms using maize silage (MS), and 4 farms using by-products (BP) as the characteristic feed components were chosen for this survey. Fresh milk was sampled once per month from September 2008 to February 2009 at each dairy farm. The percentages of GS, MS, and BP (soybean curd residue or brewer's grain) in the feed were 32.4, 22.1, and 15.1%, respectively. The milk fat, protein, and lactose contents did not differ among the milks from farms with different feeding systems. Fatty acids with chain lengths of less than C16 and saturated fatty acids were present at higher concentrations in the milks from the GS and MS farms than in the milk from the BP farms; conversely, fatty acids with chain lengths greater than C18 and unsaturated fatty acids (UFA), including mono- (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), were present at higher concentrations in the milks from the BP farms than in the milks from the GS farms. No significant differences were detected in milk flavor, evaluated as sweetness, body, texture, aftertaste, and palatability, between the milks from the farms with different feeding systems. The proportion of BP in the cow's diet was positively correlated with the concentrations of fatty acids with chain lengths greater than C18 and with UFA, MUFA, and PUFA. In contrast, the proportion of GS in the diet was positively associated with the levels of milk fat, protein, fatty acids with chain lengths less than C16, and SFA. The MUFA, PUFA, UFA, and fatty acids with chain lengths greater than C18 were not associated with any of the milk flavors. These results suggest the regional differences in feeding systems contribute to the differences in the fatty acid compositions of milk at the farm level. However, these differences do not influence the flavor of pasteurized milk. Thus, more specific feed profiles will be required to provide a specific regional flavor to pasteurized milk.

Factors Influencing the Flavour of Bovine Milk and Cheese from Grass Based versus Non-Grass Based Milk Production Systems

“…Using descriptive sensory analysis with a trained panel they found no significant sensory difference ( Table 3 ). Finally Yayota et al [ 98 ] using an affective sensory ranking test with untrained panellists evaluated pasteurized milk produced from cows fed either grass (reed canarygrass) silage, maize silage, or soybeans/brewer grain but did not find any sensory (sweetness, body, texture, aftertaste and palatability) differences ( Table 3 ).…”

Avoidance of Maternal Cell Contamination and Overgrowth in Isolating Fetal Chorionic Villi Mesenchymal Stem Cells from Human Term Placenta

“…FCS is an animal derived product of complex and unknown composition and contains serum of numerous donors pooled together. Numerous studies have proven that multiple factors (e.g., genetics, time of day, age, diet, and environment) can affect in the composition of cows milk of (e.g., concentration and type of lipids, nutrients, proteins, and antibodies) [55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63]. Like cow milk, FCS would likely have minor differences in growth factor composition/degradation depending on the specific herd of animals, season, food source, gestation of the fetuses, and as well as differences in serum collection, storage, and preparation methods.…”

Discrimination of “grazing milk” using milk fatty acid profile in the grassland dairy area in Hokkaido

“…Therefore, utilization of the milk FA profile could allow the differentiation to be established between "grazing milk" and other milk. However, these studies were conducted under well-controlled conditions, and few studies have examined this aspect under practical farming conditions (Gaspardo et al 2010;Benbrook et al 2013;Yayota et al 2013;Capuano et al 2014).…”