1930
Composition of cheeses made from milk of ewes fed with soybean seed or linseed concentrates
High solids, fat and protein contents of sheep’s milk render it an attractive option for production of exclusive cheeses. However, this activity is still being structured in Brazil. The objective of the present work was to evaluate the composition and yield of cheeses produced with milk obtained from sheeps fed diets containing soybean seed or linseed. Twenty-eight Lacaune, Santa Inês and crossbreeds sheep were allocated to two equal groups according to the diet. The milk obtained from each experimental group was used for cheese manufacture, and samples of this milk and whey were collected for laboratorial analyses and to complement cheese yield determination. The cheeses were aged for 30 days under low temperature storage (10-12°C), and analyzed for determinations of fat, protein, moisture and total solids contents. The data was evaluated using SNK test at 5% of significance. No influence of the diets on milk and whey composition was found (p>0.05). Similarly, no difference was found for cheese yield and composition in both treatments and the general values observed were: yield of 26.9% (3.77 L/kg), moisture (42.6%), total solids (57.2%), fat (26.2%), protein (22/1%), and fat in dry matter (FDM) (45.8%). It is concluded that choice of the best concentrate to be used for sheep milk production should be based on diet cost, since the option of soybean seed or linseed did not affect cheese yield and composition.
Keywords: cheese composition, diet, cheese yield