| Abstrakt: |
Production and composition of goat milk, especially fatty acids profile are important factors that influence the economic upshot, nutritivity and health prospective of the product. There is an increasing thrust on research for evolving dairy products with reduced saturated fatty acids (SFAs) responsible for undesirable hyper-cholesterolemic effects culminating in hypertension, coronary heart disease, diabetes and cancer in humans. Earlier research works have revealed that milk fat composition can be altered through dietary interventions. This work focuses on the effect of dietary supplementation of flax seed (whole) to lactating desert goats of Egypt on milk production, chemical composition, physical properties and fatty acid profiles of milk, since there is dearth of desired information on this subject. Twenty lactating local desert goats were randomly distributed into two groups, viz., control group and experimental group (n=10) for the experiment. The lactating goats were let out for grazing on the natural pastures during day, and received supplemental feeding of concentrate mixtures @ 500 gm/head (NRC, 2007) in equal amounts twice daily at 06.00 h and at 16.00 h. The concentrate mixture in the diet of the experimental goats was replaced with 14% whole flax seed (Linumusitatissimum L). Goats were milked by hand twice daily for 12 weeks for estimation of average daily milk yield, chemical composition (Fat%, Protein%, Lactose%, Ash%, SNF%, TS%), physical attributes (Sp. Gr., Freezing point, pH, Conductivity) in different weeks (1, 4, 8, and 12), along with fatty acid profile as percentage of the total fatty acids in milk. Results indicated that the average daily milk yield (g/animal/day-1) of FS supplemented goats in week 1 (569.0±48.8) was higher (P = 0.05) than the control by a margin of 48.5%. There were no differences (P = 0.05) in milk yields as well as energy corrected milk yields between the groups in other weeks and over the experimental period. The FS supplemented group showed higher (P = 0.05) proportions over the control in respect of protein (3.77±0.18 vs. 3.43±0.22), lactose (4.56±0.25 vs. 4.32±0.15), SNF (9.16±0.28 vs. 8.56±0.28) and TS (12.59±0.55 vs. 12.01±0.33), but lower freezing point (-0.57±0.06 vs. -0.53±0.06, Celsius). FS supplementation diminished (P = 0.05) Ssaturated fatty acids (64.12±0.23) and enhanced (P = 0.05) Sunsaturated fatty acids (3.38±0.036) in milk over the control. In addition, there was increase (P = 0.05) in Omega-6/Omega-3 FAs (2.39±0.001) and reduction (P = 0.05) of total conjugated linoleic acid (1.79±0.013) in the milk of goats fed on FS supplemented diet. It may be concluded form this study that dietary supplementation of flax seeds to lactating goats would enhance milk production and its nutritivity, beneficial for boosting growth and immunity of neonatal kids and help in promotion of stink free and health bolstering dairy products through moderation of harmful hyper-cholesterolemic effects of high level of LDL cholesterol in milk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
