The effect of herbs added to the summer diet sheep on the lipid fraction profile of raw milk for cheese making and rennet cheese produced from it

A study was conducted on samples of raw sheep milk and bundz rennet cheese produced from it. The milk was obtained from ewes of the Koluda prolific dairy breed, from June to August. The sheep were housed indoors and fed alfalfa green forage, hay, and a mixture of concentrate feeds. Three feeding groups were established: group I ‒ control, fed without the addition of herbs to the concentrate feed, and groups II and III, in which a herb mixture was added to the concentrate feed in the amount of 10 and 20 g/sheep/day, respectively. Six experimental batches of bundz rennet cheese were made from the milk, and the effect of the addition of herbs to the diet on the lipid profile of the milk and cheese was analysed. The results indicate that the experimental factor had no statistically confirmed effect on the lipid profile of the raw milk used to make cheese. However, the milk fat from sheep fed a diet with herbs at 20 g/sheep/day showed a tendency towards reduced content of SFA (by 3.6%) and increased content of UFA (by 6.8%) and DFA (by 7.2%) relative to the control group. The experimental factor had essentially no statistically confirmed effect on the fatty acid profile of the cheese, apart from an 11.3% increase in the content of n-6 PUFA (P≤0.05) in the fat of bundz produced from the milk of sheep fed a diet with herbs at 20 g/sheep/day with respect to the control group. The cheese fat also showed a tendency towards lower content of SFA (by 3.4%) and OFA (by 4.8%) and higher content of UFA (by 7.4%), MUFA (by 7.1%), PUFA (by 9.4%), n-3 PUFA (by 11.5%) and DFA (by 7.6%) compared to the control group. The experimental factor had no statistically confirmed effect on cholesterol content in the raw milk or the bundz cheese produced from it.

The effect of herbs added to the winter diet sheep on the lipid fraction profile of raw milk for cheese making and rennet cheese produced from it

A study was conducted on samples of raw sheep milk and rennet cheese produced from it. The milk was obtained from ewes of the coloured variety of Polish Merino, from February to April. The sheep were housed indoors and fed preserved roughage and a mixture of concentrate feeds. Three feeding groups were established: group I ‒ control, fed without the addition of herbs to the concentrate feed, and groups II and III, in which a herb mixture was added to the concentrate feed in the amount of 10 and 20 g/sheep/day, respectively. Six experimental batches of bundz rennet cheese were made from the milk, and the effect of the addition of herbs to the diet on the lipid profile of the milk and cheese was analysed. The results indicated that the addition of herbs to the winter diet of sheep in the amount of 10 and 20 g/sheep/day significantly increased the content of the acid C4:0 in the raw milk used for cheese making, by 11.5% and 20.0%, respectively (P≤0.01), relative to the control group. C4:0 content in the raw milk was also increased in group III by 7.6% compared to group II (P≤0.05). The herbs had no statistically confirmed effect on other parameters of the health-promoting quality of the milk fat and the rennet cheese. In the cheese fat from group I produced from sheep milk obtained in the period from 69 to 137 days of lactation, there was an increase in the content of SFA and a decrease in UFA during the course of the experiment. The addition of herbs to the concentrate feed of the sheep improved the fatty acid profile of the fat of bundz cheese made from milk obtained from the 97th day of lactation. The experimental factor also reduced the cholesterol content in the raw milk in group II by 26.8% and in group III by 21.2% (P≤0.01) compared to group I. It did not affect the content of this lipid in rennet cheese.

Chia seed oil as an additive to yogurt

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a 2% chia seed oil addition to natural yogurt on its quality and to determine whether chia seed oil can be used as an additive in fermented milk products. The dominant species of microorganisms found in yogurt was Lb. delbruecki subsp. bulgaricus. The number in natural yogurt varied from 6.2 to 6.3·106 CFU·g-1 and in enriched yogurt between 6.1 and 6.3·106 CFU·g-1. Chia seed oil contained 4.5 g of sterol per 100 g of oil. The addition of 2% chia seed oil to natural yogurt resulted in a high content of phytosterol in yogurt. Natural yogurt contained 1.2 g of cholesterol in 100 g of the fat fraction of yogurt. Enriched yogurt contained 2 g of phytosterols. The addition of 2% chia seed oil to natural yogurt resulted in higher amounts of unsaturated fatty acids, especially linoleic and α-linolenic acid.