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Ovine whey proteins were fractionated and studied by using different analytical techniques. Anion-exchange chromatography and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) showed the presence of two fractions of beta-lactoglobulin but only one of alpha-lactalbumin. Gel permeation and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis allowed the calculation of the apparent molecular mass of each component, while HPLC coupled to electrospray ionisation-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) technique, giving the exact molecular masses, demonstrated the presence of two variants A and B of ovine beta-lactoglobulin. Amino acid compositions of the two variants of beta-lactoglobulin differed only in their His and Tyr contents. Circular dichroism spectroscopy profiles showed pH conformation changes of each component. The thermograms of the different whey protein components showed a higher heat resistance of beta-lactoglobulin A compared to beta-lactoglobulin B at pH 2, and indicated high instability of ovine alpha-lactalbumin at this pH.

Yoghurts are mostly produced from cow milk and to a very limited extent from ewe milk. The evolution of caseins and whey proteins in ovine milk submitted to different thermal treatments (63 degrees C/30 min; 73 degrees C/15 min; 85 degrees C/10 min or 96 degrees C/5 min) was followed during fermentation of yoghurts and during their storage up to 14 days, using two different sets of starters. One set of starter LAB was a "ropy" culture (YC-191), which is a well-defined mixed strain culture containing Streptococcus thermophilus ST-143 and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus (LB-18 and LB-CH2). The other set of starter bacteria (YC-460) was a standard yoghurt culture("non-ropy") containing mixed strain culture of Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus. Contents of free amino groups in produced yoghurts increased gradually during the fermentation, up to a maximal value obtained after 4 h fermentation, then they did not change significantly during storage of yoghurt produced with YC-191 starter. In contrary, a large drop in the amount of free amino groups was observed in the first 24 h of storage in the case of yoghurt made with YC-460 indicating that microorganisms continue still to grow in low temperatures. During fermentation and storage of both yoghurt types, alpha-lactalbumin was hydrolyzed to a slightly bigger extent than beta-lactoglobulin. During fermentation, beta-casein was slightly more degraded than alpha(s)-caseins; however, the opposite was observed during storage up to 14 days. Generally, a more intense heat pretreatment led to a higher degradation of whey proteins and caseins during fermentation and storage. Differences in proteolytic activity between the two starters used (whey proteins more degraded by YC-191; caseins more degraded by YC-460) may lead to improvement in production and formulation of yoghurts differing in their physicochemical and rheological properties.