Quality Analysis of Raw Cow Milk from the Cojocna Farm, UASVM Cluj Napoca in Correlation with the Feeding Technique and Mammary Gland Health Status

Abstract

Quality analysis of 576 milk samples, obtained from the eight controls was performed in 2015 at the didactics UASVM farm from Cojocna. The biological material was represented by a 107 cows of Romanian spotted breed. On this population, individual and overall, were analized more aspects: productive performances and the main milk quality indicators such as fat, protein, lactose, pH, with particular reference to somatic cell counts as the main indicator of subclinical mastitis and the content of urea as the main indicator of nutritional aspects of the dairy cows. Following the official control of milk production, it was found that the milk production was on average 14.76 kg/day with a quite high values of coefficient of variability, between 31.05% and 40.47%, depending on the controls, which indicating a strong heterogeneity of this trait. The chemical characteristics of 576 samples showed considerable variations from one control to another. The amount of total fat and protein was found to be on average of 3.92% and 3.37% respectively. Regarding the content of urea and somatic cells, in all tested milk samples, the lowest value was found in the fifth control, with an average of 8.04±0.6 mg/dl and 69.20±23.3 cell/mlx103, while the highest was in the first control 19.37±0.7 mg/dl for urea, and 263.17±31.7 cell/mlx103 for the somatic cells.

Variability in Biochemical Composition of Milk Among Three Representative Breeds of Dairy Cows from Romania

“…Such studies are of particular interest given the current crisis of milk in Romania (in terms of yields, number of animals, adaptation of animals to local conditions). [14,19] …”

“…The animals were fed a uniform standard fodder (mixture of lucerne hey, maize silage and concentrates) under conditions previously described. [14] For electrophoresis, the milk samples were centrifuged for 10 minutes at 5000 g in order to remove the lipids, after which 5 µL of milk were mixed with 35 µL of PBS buffer and 10 µL of 5x loading dyes followed by 10 minutes of 90 °C incubation. A volume of 20 µL of the obtained solution was loaded onto a 15% SDS-PAGE as previously described.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] In terms of the relative content of various proteins within the milk, the studies are typically confined to a small number of the major proteins (caseins, lactalbumin and lactoglobulin especially), either analyzed qualitatively with gel electrophoresis or, with even narrower focus on variations such as glycosylation and alleles, quantitatively with more advanced chromatographic techniques. Other studies, in terms of genetic variability or of technological parameters (mainly yield of milk) are also available.…”