Modification of milk fatty acid composition by feeding forages and agro-industrial byproducts from dry areas to Awassi sheep (original) (raw)

2011, Journal of dairy science

The study tested the hypothesis that certain underused forages and agro-industrial byproducts available in dry areas may positively influence fatty acid (FA) composition and antioxidative properties of milk by their contents of residual oil or phenolic compounds or both. Sixty multiparous fat-tailed Awassi ewes were allocated to 6 groups in a completely randomized block design. During 50 d, the ewes were group-fed 2.5 kg of dry matter/d per ewe 1 of 6 isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets (forage:concentrate, 0.3:0.7). The test feeds, comprising 30% of the diets, replaced either barley straw [lentil straw, olive leaves, and Atriplex (saltbush) leaves, rich in phenolic compounds or electrolytes] or conventional concentrate ingredients (olive cake and tomato pomace; ∼10% lipids) from the control diet. The diets containing olive cake and tomato pomace were rich in oleic acid (18:1 cis-9; 27% of total dietary FA) and linoleic acid (18:2 cis-9,cis-12; 37%), respectively. Profiles of FA w...