Dietary supplementation with a phytocomplex affects blood parameters and milk yield and quality in grazing goats

• Published in: Small ruminant research Vol. 201; p. 106421
• Main Authors: Mastellone, Vincenzo, Morittu, Valeria Maria, Musco, Nadia, Spina, Anna Antonella, Malgeri, Andrea, Molinari, Maria Luce, D’Aniello, Biagio, Infascelli, Federico, Tudisco, Raffaella, Lombardi, Pietro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.08.2021
• Subjects: Animal health; Dairy goats; Milk quality; Milk yield; Phytocomplex; Milk quality; Phytocomplex; Dairy goats; Animal health; Milk yield
• ISSN: 0921-4488; 1879-0941
• DOI: 10.1016/j.smallrumres.2021.106421

•The supplementation of phytocomplexes can be used to affect milk quality.•The use of phytocomplex into the diet of grazing goats may be used to improve milk fatty acids profile, including n6:n3 ratio.•The phytocomplex supplementation significantly affected total CLAs in milk.•The phytocomplex supplementation improved milk quality in terms of human health. A phytocomplex composed by Schizochytrium limacinum, a species of marine alga, Galega officinalis, an herbaceous plant of the Faboideae subfamily, and linseeds, was administered to lactating grazing goats in order to evaluate its effects on milk yield and quality, and to investigate possible effects on goat health status. The hypothesis was that, by using a phytocomplex including plants known to exert an improvement of milk yield and milk quality, a synergism should be possible in order to obtain such effects using low doses, thus avoiding adverse effects. Milk fat was significantly (p<0.05) higher in treated group (4.02 vs. 3.61 %), in particular, levels of MUFA (24.55 vs 22.56 %), total n3 (1.34 vs 1.19 %) and total CLAs (0.52 vs. 0.40 %), were increased while n6/n3 (1.71 vs. 2.21 %) ratio was decreased. Concerning biochemical parameters, a significant (p<0.05) decrease of creatinine (0.73 vs. 0.84 mg/dl) was observed in treated animals, but the levels fell within the normal range for this species. Thus, the addition of the proposed phytocomplex to the diet of grazing goats may be successfully used to improve milk fatty acids profile without negative effects on animal health.