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The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of 3-way rotational crossbreeding scheme of Holstein (HO) cows with Montbéliarde (MO), Viking Red (VR) and HO sires on body and milk quality traits. Cows were purebred HO; F1:(MO × HO; VR × HO); F2: [MO × (VR × HO); VR × (MO × HO)]; F3: {HO ×[MO ×(VR ×HO)]}; HO ×[VR x (MO ×HO)]}. Data were collected on 745 cows kept in a commercial farm located in Northern Italy. Milk data were acquired from official milk recording and body condition score (BCS) and conformation traits were measured once by trained evaluator. Data were analyzed using a linear model including fixed effects of parity, DIM class and breed combinations. Average body traits: height at withers (HW), body length (BL) and heart girth (HG) of cows were 139, 162 and 207 cm respectively. Crossbred cows had shorter HW, BL and HG than pure HO but greater BCS. Milk yield averaged 31.5 kg/d, with fat and protein content close to 3.8 and 3.75%, respectively. Purebred HO produced greater volume of milk than crossbreds but milk from HO had lower protein content. Different combinations of crossbred cows showed similar performance in terms of milk yield traits, but evidenced different body size. The trial is currently in progress to increase cow sample size and widen the number of herds involved.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of 3-way rotational crossbreeding scheme of Holstein (HO) cows with Montbéliarde (MO), Viking Red (VR) and HO sires on body and milk quality traits. Cows were purebred HO; F1:(MO × HO; VR × HO); F2: [MO × (VR × HO); VR × (MO × HO)]; F3: {HO ×[MO ×(VR ×HO)]}; HO ×[VR x (MO ×HO)]}. Data were collected on 745 cows kept in a commercial farm located in Northern Italy. Milk data were acquired from official milk recording and body condition score (BCS) and conformation traits were measured once by trained evaluator. Data were analyzed using a linear model including fixed effects of parity, DIM class and breed combinations. Average body traits: height at withers (HW), body length (BL) and heart girth (HG) of cows were 139, 162 and 207 cm respectively. Crossbred cows had shorter HW, BL and HG than pure HO but greater BCS. Milk yield averaged 31.5 kg/d, with fat and protein content close to 3.8 and 3.75%, respectively. Purebred HO produced greater volume of milk than crossbreds but milk from HO had lower protein content. Different combinations of crossbred cows showed similar performance in terms of milk yield traits, but evidenced different body size. The trial is currently in progress to increase cow sample size and widen the number of herds involved.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae type boulardii CNCM I-1079) supplementation on growth performance and blood metabolites in Black Bengal goat kids. The experiment was performed on eight growing Black Bengal goat kids divided into a control diet (CD) group without yeast and yeast supplement (YS) group with 1.5% of yeast supplement. The feeding experiment was conducted for 40 days with growth performance measured every ten days, and blood samples were collected on days 0 and 40 of the experiment. The data were analyzed using a mixed model. The results showed that YS had no effect on growth parameters. Moreover, addition of yeast to the diet did not affect the blood parameters (phosphorus (P), cholesterol, triacylglycerol, urea, total protein, glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT), and glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT)) except calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg). In the YS group animals, a slight increase in blood level concentration of Ca and Mg was observed compared to the CD group., Cilj rada bio je istražiti učinke kvasca (Saccharomyces cerevisiae tipa boulardii CNCM I-1079) na rast i metabolite krvi kod jaradi crne bengalske pasmine. Eksperiment je proveden na osam jarića podijeljenih u kontrolnu skupinu (KS), koja nije dobivala kvasac, i eksperimentalnu skupinu (ES), kojoj je u obrok dodavano 1,5 % kvasca. Pokus je trajao 40 dana tijekom kojih su učinci rasta mjereni svakih deset dana, a uzorci krvi prikupljeni su nulti i 40. dan eksperimenta. Podaci su analizirani pomoću miješanog modela. Rezultati su pokazali da kvasac nema učinka na pokazatelje rasta. Štoviše, dodavanje kvasca u prehranu nije utjecalo na pokazatelje u krvi (fosfor - P, kolesterol, triacilglicerol, ureju, ukupni protein, glutamat-piruvatnu transaminazu - GPT i glutamat-oksaloacetatnu transaminazu - GOT), uz izuzetak kalcija (Ca) i magnezija (Mg). U eksperimentalnoj skupini životinja opaženo je neznatno povećanje koncentracije Ca i Mg u krvi u odnosu na životinje u kontrolnoj skupini.

Crossbreeding in dairy cattle may improve functional traits of crossbred cows, but few are known on its effect on cheese-making traits. This study investigated the effects of crossbreeding of Holstein (HO) cows with Montbéliarde (MO) and Swedish Red (SR) on milk composition, cheese yield (CY) and other cheese-making traits. Milk samples from 188 cows were collected on 3 dairy herds producing PDO cheeses. Herds are following a 3-way rotational breeding scheme, so that parts of the cows were purebred HO and the remaining were 1st (SR × HO; MO × HO) and 2nd generation [MO x (SR x HO); SR x (MO x HO)] crossbred cows. Milk samples were analyzed for assessing milk composition, CY, curd composition, and recovery of milk nutrients (REC) in curd. Cows yielded nearly 30.5 kg/d milk, with a fat and protein content of 4.5 and 3.8 %, respectively, without any difference between purebred HO and crossbred cows. Milk coagulation time was influenced by breed combination (P < 0.05), but purebred HO performed similarly to crossbred cows. Milk yielded nearly 16.3% of curd, but again CY and curd composition were not affected by the breed combination. In conclusion, the crossbreeding scheme considered did not exert any negative effect on cheese-making properties of milk, and can be chosen even in farms specialized in PDO cheese production. Further studies with larger sample size are needed for obtaining more robust estimates and for evaluating the performance of the different breed combinations.

Crossbreeding in dairy cattle may improve functional traits of crossbred cows, but few are known on its effect on cheese-making traits. This study investigated the effects of crossbreeding of Holstein (HO) cows with Montbéliarde (MO) and Swedish Red (SR) on milk composition, cheese yield (CY) and other cheese-making traits. Milk samples from 188 cows were collected on 3 dairy herds producing PDO cheeses. Herds are following a 3-way rotational breeding scheme, so that parts of the cows were purebred HO and the remaining were 1st (SR × HO; MO × HO) and 2nd generation [MO x (SR x HO); SR x (MO x HO)] crossbred cows. Milk samples were analyzed for assessing milk composition, CY, curd composition, and recovery of milk nutrients (REC) in curd. Cows yielded nearly 30.5 kg/d milk, with a fat and protein content of 4.5 and 3.8 %, respectively, without any difference between purebred HO and crossbred cows. Milk coagulation time was influenced by breed combination (P < 0.05), but purebred HO performed similarly to crossbred cows. Milk yielded nearly 16.3% of curd, but again CY and curd composition were not affected by the breed combination. In conclusion, the crossbreeding scheme considered did not exert any negative effect on cheese-making properties of milk, and can be chosen even in farms specialized in PDO cheese production. Further studies with larger sample size are needed for obtaining more robust estimates and for evaluating the performance of the different breed combinations.