Great Lakes Dairy Sheep Symposium - the Department of Animal ...

Table 4. Fatty acid composition (g/100 g fatty acids) of milk fat from ewes fed a control diet, or
a diet supplemented with in linseed, and cheeses at 1, 2, and 4 months of ripening made from the
milk of animals fed the linseed supplemented diet. Adapted from Luna et al. (2005).
Milk Cheese
Fatty Acid Control Linseed 1 Month 2 Month 4 Month
? C16 37.0 44.8 44.7 44.8 45.0
18:1 trans-11 2.4 3.6 3.6 3.5 3.7
18:2 cis-9, trans-11 0.8 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
18:2 cis-9, cis-12 3.3 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.8
18:3 cis-9, cis-12, cis-15 0.5 1.1 1.0 1.1 1.1
Conclusions
In this paper we have given a broad overview of milk fat synthesis in ruminants and how we
can control nutrition to manipulate the content and composition of milk fat. Understanding the
interrelationship between dietary supply of lipid, rumen fermentation and mammary synthesis of
milk fat is of major importance to the dairy industry because the nature of the milk fat fraction
influences the manufacturing properties and organoleptic qualities of milk and dairy products.
An understanding of these relationships will permit milk fat content and fatty acid composition
to be altered through nutritional practices, thereby offering the opportunity for producers to
respond to market forces and human health recommendations.
References
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