Effect of feeding fresh forage and marine algae on the fatty acid composition and oxidation of milk and butter

Abstract This study evaluated the effects of feeding fresh forage either as pasture plus a concentrate (PAS) or as a silage-based total mixed ration (TMR), combined with either a ruminally inert lipid supplement high in saturated fatty acids ( − ) or a ruminally protected microalgae containing 22g of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)/100g of fatty acids ( + ) on the fatty acid (FA) composition and oxidation of milk and butter. For the 8 mid-lactation Holstein cows in this study, milk yield was not significantly affected by treatment, averaging 32.3±1.28kg/d. Milk fat content was higher for PAS − , averaging 5.05 compared with 4.10±0.17% for the mean of other treatments, and was significantly depressed with microalgae supplementation (3.97 vs. 4.69±0.17%). The saturated fatty acid level in the milk of cows fed TMR − was significantly higher than that of the other treatments (66.9 vs. 61.2g/100g of FA). The level of monounsaturated FA was lowered by feeding TMR − (27.4 vs. 32.0g/100g of FA), whereas levels of polyunsaturated FA were elevated by feeding PAS + compared with the mean of the other treatments (6.54 vs. 5.07g/100g of FA). Feeding the rumen-protected microalgae increased the DHA content of milk more than 4-fold (0.06 to 0.26g/100g of FA) with the PAS treatment. The conjugated linoleic acid content of milk was highest for PAS + compared with the other treatments (4.18 vs. 3.41g/100g of FA). In general, the fatty acid composition of butter followed that of milk. Overall, feeding the TMR supplemented with the rumen-protected microalgae increased the levels of volatile products of oxidation in milk and butter. No effect of forage type or microalgae supplementation was observed on the oxidative stability or antioxidant capacity of milk, although the oxidative stability of butter exposed to UV was reduced with microalgae supplementation, particularly with TMR, as assessed by using the ferric reducing ability of plasma assay.