Four studies were conducted to investigate some factors affecting milk fatty acid composition of dairy ewes. The first study was performed to determine the influence of freezing temperatures and storage time on ovine milk composition and cheese making. The other three experiments were conducted to examine the effects of dietary added fats with different profiles of fatty acids from canola, sunflower and flaxseeds on animal performance, nutrient utilization, milk yield and cheese making. The main emphasis was on fatty acid composition, particularly CLA and Omega-3 fatty acids, in milk and cheese. Results showed that: (1) feeding up to 8% of canola, sunflower and flaxseed had no adverse effects on dry matter intake and total tract digestibilities of dry matter, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber and crude protein, while the digestibilities of fatty acids and gross energy were increased with oilseed supplementation; (2) feeding flaxseed to lactating ewes up to 260g/ewe/d increased milk yield by up to 8.4%, and fat content by up to 14.3% without adversely affecting other milk components or cheese yield and composition; (3) Oilseed supplementation increased milk concentrations of long-chain and unsaturated fatty acids in the expenses of short-chain, medium-chain and saturated fatty acids. The concentrations of CLA and Omega-3 fatty acids were also increased by oilseed supplementation; (4) the manipulated fatty acids profiles can be reflected in cheese; (5) good quality cheese can be produced from ovine milk frozen at -15°C and -25°C for up to 6 months without influencing cheese content of fat and protein and fatty acid composition. / In conclusion, ovine milk with nutritionally healthy characteristics can be produced by feeding ewes diets with oilseeds, and freezing storage of milk for up to 6 months at -15°C or -25°C does not significantly affects milk composition including fatty acid composition. The characteristics of milk can be reflected in cheese.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.102236 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Zhang, Runhou, 1963- |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Animal Science.) |
| Rights | © Runhou Zhang, 2005 |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002482537, proquestno: AAINR25289, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
Page generated in 0.0019 seconds