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Feed composition and strategies to improve poly-unsaturated fatty acid levels in organic cow milk

de Wit, Jan and de Vries, Anneke (2008) Feed composition and strategies to improve poly-unsaturated fatty acid levels in organic cow milk. Poster at: Cultivating the Future Based on Science: 2nd Conference of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research ISOFAR, Modena, Italy, June 18-20, 2008.

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Summary

Like in various other countries, organic milk in the Netherlands has higher levels of poly-unsaturated fatty acids, particularly CLA and omega-3, than conventional milk. Monitoring results from a total of 25 farms between 2004 till 2007 are presented. Regression analysis indicates a negative effect of maize silage and positive effects of feeding fresh grass, grass pellets, red clover and addition of oil on CLA levels in milk fat. Results with omega-3 are similar, but omega-3 levels in milk fat seem less related to feed characteristics: the model with feed composition, seasonal effects and farm effects as major parameters, explains a smaller part of the variation, while farm influence is much larger with omega-3 compared to CLA.
Farm influence might be caused by genetic differences and constant factors influencing roughage quality. Genetic influences are likely but could not be investigated as milk samples were not taken from individual cows. The influence of grass quality is suggested by the large effect of sampling date found in this study. Moreover, some high residual values and statistical estimates for individual farms seem often related to silage quality, botanically rich pastures and red clover feeding.


EPrint Type:Conference paper, poster, etc.
Type of presentation:Poster
Keywords:omega-3, CLA, grass pellets, roughage quality
Subjects: Food systems > Food security, food quality and human health
Animal husbandry > Feeding and growth
Research affiliation: International Conferences > 2008: IFOAM OWC: Research Track / ISOFAR > 4 QUALITY OF ORGANIC PRODUCTS
Netherlands > Louis Bolk Institute
Deposited By: de Wit, Ir. Jan
ID Code:11663
Deposited On:23 Sep 2008
Last Modified:12 Apr 2010 07:35
Document Language:English
Status:Published
Refereed:Peer-reviewed and accepted
Additional Publishing Information:This paper is published in the conference proceedings:
Neuhoff, Daniel; Halberg, Niels; Alfldi, Thomas; Lockeretz, William; Thommen, Andreas; Rasmussen, Ilse A.; Hermansen, John; Vaarst, Mette; Lck, Lorna; Carporali, Fabio; Jensen, Henning Hgh; Migliorini, Paola and Willer, Helga, Eds. (2008) .Cultivating the Future Based on Science. Proceedings of the Second Scientific Conference of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR), held at the 16th IFOAM Organic World Congress in Cooperation with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and the Consorzio ModenaBio, 18 . 20 June 2008 in Modena, Italy.. International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR), c/o IOL, DE-Bonn, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, CH-Frick. http://orgprints.org/13672 and http://orgprints.org/13674

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