PRODUCTION OF DONKEY MILK FOR HUMAN FEEDING:
CHANGES OF GROSS COMPOSITION
AND ENERGETIC VALUE
DURING LACTATION IN MARTINA
FRANCA BREED
Angela
Gabriella D’Alessandro1, Riccardina Tesse2, Cosimo
Montagna3, Vincenzo De Leo1,
Nicoletta Addante3, Lucio Armenio2, Giovanni
Martemucci1
1Department PRO.GE.S.A., University of Bari, Italy
2Department of Biomedicina dell’Età
Evolutiva, Pediatric Clinic “S. Maggiore”, University of Bari, Italy
3Istituto Zooprofilattico
Sperimentale di Puglia e Basilicata, Italy
dalex@agr.uniba.it
Composition characteristics and
energetic value of donkey milk were investigated during the lactation in
Martina Franca breed, an authocthonous breed of Southern Italy.
Individual milk samples were collected once a month from nine adult
healthy asses, daily milked by machine milking from the 1st to
the 8th month after foaling. Milk was analyzed to determine
composition in macro-nutritional parameters (fat, protein, lactose),
casein, fat-free dry matter (FDM), urea, pH and to calculate gross energy
values. Results showed that the lactation stage of asses influences
protein and FDM (P < 0.01) and casein contents (P < 0.05). Overall,
protein, FDM, casein as well as fat contents of milk showed the highest
values at the first month of lactation (1.86, 9.26, 1.54, 0.71 %
respectively), a gradual decreasing trend throughout the lactation, which
became significant (0.05 > P < 0.01) from the 6th–7th
month. The gross energetic values follow the same trend, with the highest
value at the 1st month of lactation (1831.53 kJ·kg–1)
and a marked reduction in correspondence to the 7th–8th
month (–10%). Constant (P > 0.05) during lactation resulted the values
of lactose (6.52 to 6.76 %), urea (34.10 to 35.62 mg/dl) and pH (6.87 to
6.93). These findings give a basic knowledge on the nutritional
characteristics of Martina Franca donkey milk which is important for its
employ in human feeding.
Key words:
donkey; milk; composition; energetic value
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