Authors
Title
Abstract
There were determined: food energy, physical properties (acidity, density), rennet coagulation time, and dispersion state of fat (percentage rate of fatty globules ≤ 6 μm, 6-10 μm and above 10 μm) in 969 samples of milk from 3 breeds of cows: Polish Red, Whitebacked, and Simmental, which were utilized in 13 farms applying a low input system. The control group of samples consisted of 243 milk samples collected from the Polish Holstein-Friesian (PHF) cows utilized with the use of intensive husbandry technologies (TMR feeding). It was shown that the milk, produced in the autumn-winter season by the three cow breeds kept using a low input system, had a significantly (p≤0.01) higher food energy value compared to the milk produced during the spring-summer season. Those differences were definitely much lower and statistically insignificant in the cow’s milk from the PHF breed. The highest content of casein was determined in the milk from the Polish Red (2.84%) and Simmental (2.75%) cows and produced in the autumnwinter season, whereas the lowest content of casein, very similar for the two seasons (2.52 % and 2.57%, respectively) was reported in the milk from the PHF cows. A mean coagulation time of milk from the three breeds of cows utilized using a low input system was significantly (p≤0.01) shorter (ca. 4 min vs. 57 min 37 sec) compared to the milk from the PHF cows. Additionally, the milk from those cows had a significantly (p ≤ 0.01) higher percentage rate of fatty globules showing large diameters (> 10 μm), namely: Whitebacked – 9.82 %, Simmental – 9.22 %, and Polish Red – 9.05 %, in comparison to the milk from the Polish Holstein-Friesian cows (7.34 %).
Keywords
cattle breed, milk, food energy, physical properties, processing suitability