Organic farming of dairy goats in the Veneto region: feeding management and milk quality

Abstract

The relationship between the quality of goat milk and the feeding management in organic farms located in the Veneto Region was evaluated. Five organic dairy goat farms with Alpine and Saanen breeds were considered. Samples of bulk milk and feeds were collected monthly and analysed for chemical composition. Milk fatty acids profile was also determined. All data were submitted by ANCOVA analysis using breed (B), time of sampling (ST) and B x ST as fixed effects and dry matter intake (DMI), dietary concentrations of crude protein (CPc), NDF (NDFc), starch (starchc), and use of grazing as linear covariates. Milk urea N was positively affected by DMI (r=3.64; P<0.05) and negatively by starchc (r=-5.91; P<0.05) and total bacterial count increased significantly (P<0.05) with the increase of CPc and starchc. DMI affected positively the milk fatty acid (FA) profile by increasing of PUFA (P<0.01), n-3 (P<0.001) and n-6 (P<0.05) acids and decreasing of SFA (P<0.05) levels in milk. Opposite effects on FA profile were observed by CPc, NDFc and starchc. The use of grazing only caused a significant increase (P<0.05) in the content of CLA in milk.

Keywords

• Dairy goat, Organic milk, Fatty acids, Feeding