Milk production, fatty acid composition and vitamin E content of Payoya goats according to grazing level in summer on Mediterranean shrublands

doi:10.1016/j.smallrumres.2013.06.001

Small Ruminant Research

Volume 114, Issue 1, August 2013, Pages 167-175

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2013.06.001 Get rights and content

Abstract

Dietary intake of certain unsaturated fatty acids (FA), in particular conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and omega-3 FA (n-3 FA), and fat-soluble antioxidants (e.g. α-tocopherol) has been linked to potential health benefits. Nevertheless, there is little information about how Mediterranean shrublands affect the fat composition and fat-soluble antioxidants of milk of dairy goats. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect during the summer of different grazing levels on Mediterranean scrublands on milk production, milk FA profile and vitamin E content from Payoya goats. Eight farms were selected and data were collected monthly from June to October of 2010. Indicators for feeding management and productivity were obtained. The Percentage of the milking goat's net energy requirements obtained from grazing (NERG) was calculated. Farms were segregated in two groups according to the grazing level: high (HG, n = 3) and medium grazing (MG, n = 5). Whole milk was collected monthly from bulk tanks of the farms and analyzed for chemical composition, FA profile, α-tocopherol content and total antioxidant capacity (TAC). NERG differed between treatment groups and months (P < 0.001 and P < 0.05, respectively). No differences between groups were observed for the most studied chemical parameters. The percentages of C16:1 (P < 0.01), C18:1 n-9 trans (P < 0.05), C18:1 n-9 cis (P < 0.05) and MUFA (P < 0.01) were significantly higher and the total SFA significantly lower (P < 0.01) in milk from MG farms compared with HG farms. In contrast, percentages of the nutritionally desirable FA (α-linolenic acid, C22:5 n-3, total n-3 PUFA) were significantly higher, while levels of total n-6 PUFA and n6:n3 ratio were significantly lower in milk from HG group. In addition, the percentages of NERG were correlated positively with the contents of several n-3 FA and negatively with the n-6 FA and n-6:n-3 ratio. CLA cis-9, trans-11 and CLA trans-10, cis-12 were not affected by grazing level. The short and long-chain FA showed significant variations during the period of study. HG farms showed significant higher α-tocopherol content in September (P = 0.030) and October (P = 0.025). The TAC levels did not significantly vary according to the grazing level and the month. In conclusions, the high grazing farms showed significantly higher levels of n-3 FA and α-tocopherol compared with the medium grazing farms, which are widely recognized as having beneficial effects on human health.

Introduction

Andalusia is the second goat milk-producing region in Europe, comprising essentially native breeds, as the Payoya breed. Most of the Payoya breed flocks have a grazing-based management, with scrubland occupying most of the grazing area (Nahed et al., 2006, Ruiz et al., 2008). Farms under grazing management regime are considered beneficial from the environmental point of view (Riedel et al., 2007). Controlled grazing favours the diversity of vegetation, the conservation of heterogeneous landscape and the prevention of soil loss and forest fires (Ruiz-Mirazo et al., 2011). In economically depressed areas, goat farming also has an important social role regarding preserving the population and maintaining traditions.

On the other hand, dietary intake of certain unsaturated fatty acids (FA), in particular conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and omega-3 FA (n-3 FA), and fat-soluble antioxidants (e.g., α-tocopherol, carotenoids) has been linked to potential health benefits (Connor, 2000, Parodi, 2003, Wilcox et al., 2004, MacRae et al., 2005). Several works on dairy goat have highlighted the potential of grazing in herbaceous pasture for enhancing the proportion in milk and dairy products of polyunsaturated FA (PUFA), α-linolenic acid (α-LA, the main n-3 FA in milk), and/or CLA (Žan et al., 2006, Galina et al., 2007, D’Urso et al., 2008, Lucas et al., 2008), and fat-soluble antioxidants (Morand-Fehr et al., 2007, Pizzoferrato et al., 2007, Lucas et al., 2008), compared with conventional concentrate-forage diets or low grazing systems. According to Silanikove et al. (2010) milk from goats feeding on pasture may present an overlooked “treasure trove” with respect to its health promoting lipid profile. While there is a great deal of information on temperate forage species fed to dairy cattle, there is little information about how Mediterranean forage species (particularly in grazing based on shrub and woody lands) affect the fat composition of milk and cheese of dairy sheep and goats. In this respect, Tsiplakou et al. (2006) and Mancilla-Leytón et al. (2013) observed that consumption of Mediterranean shrublands did not increase the milk CLA contents compared to non or low grazing animals, while Vasta et al. (2008) found that goats grazing on condensed tannins (CT)-rich grass and Mediterranean shrubs or shrublands had a higher CLA and vaccenic acid content in milk fat than animals grazing only grass. Moreover there is no information about differences in the composition of fat-soluble antioxidants in milk from goat dairy systems grazing on Mediterranean shrublands.

Through public subsidies and benefits, small ruminant grazing systems rapidly tend to become intensified. The number of grazing goat holdings has decreased slightly in most European countries. The main reasons for this decrease are: lack of shepherds, difficulties of grazing, rising land prices, the use of more productive breeds but less adapted to grazing, lack of recognition of the grazing product quality and scarce profitability of farms (Rancourt et al., 2006, Riedel et al., 2007, Castel et al., 2010).

In order to maintain grazing systems, farms must enhance and promote their benefits to be profitable. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different grazing levels on Mediterranean scrublands (high vs. medium) on milk production and milk FA and vitamin E composition from Payoya dairy goats. This study was conducted under standard pasture and management conditions during the summer season in order to guarantee a majority consumption of shrub and woody plants.

Section snippets

Area of research, experimental farms and indicators

The selected area was the mountain range in Cádiz (South of Spain) where flocks of native Payoya goats predominate. Weather conditions corresponded to Mediterranean climate: seasonal rainfall of 600 mm (from October to April), average summer temperature of 24–26 °C and a maximum of 40 °C, and minimum winter temperatures of 8–10 °C and a minimum of −2 °C.

Eight Payoya goat farms were selected (about 27% of census farms according to the Association of Payoya Breeders, unpublished data). Data was

Feeding and production parameters for high and medium grazing farms

Table 1 shows herd size, stage of goat lactation, area per goat and diet composition. In the experimental farms, the majority of goats had parturition in October–November and finished their lactation during the summer. During the experimental period, goats in late stage lactation were dominant and the number of milking goats decreased significantly as the months progressed.

Natural pasture area per goat differed between treatment groups and months (P < 0.001 and P < 0.05, respectively) (see Table 1

Milk yield and basic chemical composition

According to milk production and chemical composition, the levels of energy and protein supply with the pasture and supplemented feeds were similar in both groups (Morand-Fehr et al., 2007) (see Table 2). Lactose concentration and secretion are positively related with milk yield (Leitner et al., 2011). In our study the differences found between groups according to grazing level for milk yield and lactose content were significant only in the case of lactose (P value = 0.043). In addition, the

Conclusions

The high grazing farms showed significantly higher levels of n-3 FA and α-tocopherol compared with the medium grazing farms, which are widely recognized as having beneficial effects on human health. Nevertheless, more research is needed to elucidate the potential of milk from goat dairy systems grazing on Mediterranean shrublands as a functional food.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agraria (Project INIA-RTA2010-00064-C04-03) and the Research Group “Tecnología de la producción animal-AGR-233” for funding this research, and Fromandal S.A. for technical help in the gathering of the samples.

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European small ruminant systems are mainly situated in mountain areas and for the production model to be sustainable, the quality of products and traceability should be analysed. Technical data and bulk milk samples (n = 48 for each season) from 16 goat farms were collected each month during the four seasons of the year. According to the indicator Net energy provided by grazing on shrublands (NERG), farms were separated in High (n = 3, 59% NERG), Medium (n = 9, 39%) and Low (n = 4, 16%) Grazing groups. Samples were analysed for fatty acid (FA) profile and vitamin A and E contents, and was evaluated its utility to discriminate milk samples. Few differences were found in the analyzed parameters between farm groups. However, important changes were reported according to season. Spring milk (46% NERG) showed significantly higher levels of some healthy FA (total polyunsaturated, 4.67 ± 0.044% of total FA; n-3, 0.94 ± 0.017; conjugated linoleic acid total, 0.51 ± 0.008), summer (37% NERG) and autumn (33% NERG) showed higher levels of α tocopherol (215.5 and 195.8 ± 6.54 μg/100 g, respectively) and winter (32% NERG) showed higher levels of retinol (85.0 ± 1.71 μg/100 g). The multivariate approach was able to discriminate milk from different seasons.

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Milk production, fatty acid composition and vitamin E content of Payoya goats according to grazing level in summer on Mediterranean shrublands

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Area of research, experimental farms and indicators

Feeding and production parameters for high and medium grazing farms

Milk yield and basic chemical composition

Conclusions

Acknowledgments

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