Effects of replacing sunflower meal with camelina meal on dairy cows performances.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different levels of dietary camelina meal (source of fats rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, PUFA) on milk production and quality in multiparous cows. The monofactorial experiment used 24 cows, for two weeks, assigned randomly to three groups: control (C), which received a compound feed consisting of corn, wheat bran and sunflower meal (31% in the CF) in addition to the basal diet; experimental 1 (E1) which received the same basal diet and compound feed, in which 50% of the sunflower meal was replaced by camelina meal (15.5% in the CF); experimental 2 (E2) which received the same basal diet and compound feed, in which the sunflower meal was replaced completely by camelina meal (31% in the CF). The routine compositional raw milk analysis (fat, protein and lactose) were determined by infrared spectroscopy, techniques comply with AOAC Official Method 972.16:2006 and International IDF Standard 141C:2000. Gas chromatography was used to determine the fatty acids from the milk and compound feed. The experimental results have shown that the partial or total replacement of the sunflower meal with camelina meal didn't affect significantly (P>0.05) milk production and milk composition. On the other hand, milk quality, as reflected by the fatty acids (FA) composition was improved significantly by the dietary camelina meal. Thus, the concentration of PUFA, n-6 PUFA and CLA was significantly (P<0.0001) influenced by the treatment. As the concentration of PUFA and MUFA increased, the concentration of saturated fatty acids (SFA) decreased highly significantly (P= 0.001). In conclusion, the vegetal ingredients rich in PUFA have beneficial effects on milk quality, which in turn, improves the health state of the consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]