Survey of fatty acid profile of milk fat in Italian Water buffalo

Abstract Text: Dairy Buffalo farming has a relevant economic importance in Italy, mainly due to the high value of the most important dairy product, the mozzarella. Fat is a major component of buffalo dairy products. Its consumption can provide great opportunities for increasing the intake of fatty acids (FA) with potential health properties, especially as far as CLA isomers and omega-3 FA are concerned. Therefore the purpose of this survey was to investigate the variation in FA profile of milk fat of Mediterranean water buffalo fed a total mixed ratio composed mainly by corn silage and pelleted concentrate. Milk samples from 398 Italian Water buffaloes farmed in  18 herds located in Campania were collected at different months of production. FA composition of milk samples was determined by GC. Data were analyzed using a linear model, that includes age, days in milk (DIM) and month of calving as fixed effects and herd as a random effect. Saturated FA (SFA) represented 71.6% of total FA (ranging from 57.9% to 85.9%) and C16:0 and C18:0 were the most represented (34.8% and 11.1%, respectively). Monounsaturated FA (MUFA) were 25.17% of total milk FA (ranging from 12.6% to 37.4%) and C18:1c9 represent the majority (76% of total MUFA). The concentration of polyunsaturated FA (PUFA) was 3.21% of total FA ranging from 1.39% to 5.11%. with C18:2 n6 predominating (49% of total PUFA) while C18:3 n3 was present in a lower amount 0.32% of total FA. Trans FA (TFA) represented 1.70% of total FA with C18:1 t11 the most abundant (59% of total TFA). CLA isomers amounted to 0.76% of total milk FA and the isomer c9, t11 CLA  represent the majority (55% of total CLA). Statistical analysis showed that milk FA were not significantly influenced by the age of animal, except for TFA content (P<0.05) that was higher in younger animals (1.94%). Month of calving significantly influenced FA composition of buffalo milk only for total CLA and TFA (P<0.05), evidencing a seasonality effect o these traits. DIM  affected significantly all the group of FA analyzed (P<0.01) denoting a marked lactation curve effects. The FA profile obtained in this study is typical of animals farmed in intensive systems, with a reduced occurrence of unsaturated fatty acids, compared to graze-based systems.

Keywords: Buffalo milk, fatty acid profile