Influence of selected cereals in diets of dairy cows on the fatty acid composition of milk

Abstract

The study is dealing with the comparison of milk from three groups of cows which were fed with three different cereals (maize, wheat, triticale) focused on fatty acid (FA) profile of milk fat. During six weeks, 26 milk samples were obtained from Czech Fleckvieh dairy cows. These groups were balanced in terms of milk yield, stage and number of lactation as much as possible. The analysis of FAs was performed using esterification and following GC-FID determination in the samples of tested grains as well as in milk. The significant differences in contents of FAs were observed: – for C15:0 which content was higher in milk from group which was fed by maize (1.81±0.04%) in comparison to milk from group which was fed by triticale (1.67±0.024%) – for C16:1 which content in milk was higher in the case of triticale group (2.18±0.026%) as compared to wheat (2.08±0.036%) group. From all points of view this is possible to conclude that triticale seems to be more suitable replacement. © 2016, National Centre for Agrarian Sciences. All rights reserved.