Casein number variability of mare milk from Haflinger and Italian Saddle Horse breeds

Abstract

Mare’s milk is the most important nutritional resource for the foal during the initial weeks of life. Since centuries, in Central Asia, it is the basic staple for the Koumiss production (Savini, 1946; Storch, 1985). Because of its peculiar chemical and nutritional characteristics (Malacarne et al., 2002), recently mare’s milk is utilised also in human nutrition and for cosmetics (Drogoul et al., 1992). This arouses new interest for the study of mare’s milk, in particular concerning the effect of genetic, physiological and feeding factors on organic and inorganic milk components (Doreau and Boulot, 1989; Mariani et al., 1993; Doreau, 1994). The effects of breed and physiological state are not yet well defined (Minieri and Intrieri 1970; Bouwman and van der Schee, 1978; Doreau et al., 1992; Mariani et al., 2000; Pinto et al., 2001; Martuzzi et al., 2002), in particular concerning the percentage repartition of the nitrogen fractions (Doreau et al., 1990)...

Keywords

• mare milk, Haflinger, Italian Saddle, lactation stage, casein number