Tackling the future challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry - vTI

RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.) (2012): Tackling the Future Challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry.
Proceedings of the 2 nd OAHC, Hamburg/Trenthorst, Germany, Sep 12-14, 2012
Bioactive properties of organic milk fat
EWA METERA 1 , TOMASZ SAKOWSKI 1* , BEATA KUCZYŃSKA 2 , KAMILA PUPPEL 2 , MARCIN
GOŁĘBIEWSKI 2 , ANNA BRZOZOWSKA 1 , KRZYSZTOF SŁONIEWSKI 1
Animal Science Department, Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding,
Polish Academy of Sciences, Jastrzębiec, Poland,
www.ighz.edu.pl, e-mail e.metera@ighz.pl, t.sakowski@ighz.pl
2 Cattle Breeding Division, Animal Science Department,
Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Warsaw, Poland,
www.sggw.waw.pl
Key words: organic milk, bioactive, antioxidant, functional fatty acids, fat soluble vitamins
Introduction
Cow’s milk contains range of biologically active substances with antioxidant properties, which reduce
the risk of many diseases i.e. arteriosclerosis, cancer, Alzheimer’s, and protect the body
against environmental pollutants and free radicals. In milk's fat, tthese are i.e. functional fatty acids
(FFA): butyric, transvaccenic, oleic, rumenic (conjugated linolenic acid c9 t11 isomer), omega-3 (αlinolenic,
eicosapentaenoic, docosapentaenoic, docosaheksaenoic) and omega-6 FA (linoleic, arachidonic),
and fat soluble vitamins: A – α-retinol, E – α-tocopherol, carotenoids (mainly βcarotene).
Researchers from many countries found more bioactive, antioxidative compounds in organic milk,
especially from cows fed fresh grass (Bloksma 2008, Butler et al. 2008, Steinshamn 2008, Butler
2009, Kusche 2009, Slots et al. 2009, Lairon 2010, Larsen et al. 2010, O’Donnel 2010, Butler et al.
2011, Fall and Emanuelson 2011). In Poland only Kuczyńska (2011) widely compared bioactive
properties of milk from organic and conventional system.
TAS (Total Antioxidative Status) dtermine the level of antioxidant compounds in the milk in a very
short time, and it is used to monitor general state of the system's prevention to the oxidation processes
(Kuczyńska 2011).
The aim of the study was to determine relationships between functional fatty acids (FFA), fat soluble
vitamins (A, E), β-carotene and total antioxidative status (TAS) of organic milk in two feeding
seasons.
Methods and materials
FFA, vitamins (A, E), β-carotene and TAS were investigated in 382 organic milk samples. Samples
were collected every two months in 2009-2011, from 108 Holstein – Friesian primiparous cows,
kept on four organic certified farms, in the North of Poland. Cows were kept in the free stall barns
and grazed on grass-clover pastures during outdoor season (May to September) and fed grasslegume
silages, hay and concentrate during indoor season (October to April). Milk fat was extracted
and chromatographic methods were used to determine FFA (by gas chromatography - GC) and vitamins
(by high performance liquid chromatography - HPLC) content. TAS was determined in
whole milk by Randox kit, using ELISA reader. Statistics were performed using SAS software.
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