Addition of palm oil in diet of dairy ewes reduces saturates fatty acid and increases unsaturated fatty acids in milk

ABSTRACT

Background: Sheep milk production is becoming an important alternative in the agricultural sector. It is used principally to produce fine cheeses, yogurts, and ice creams, and these produced from sheep’s milk are beneficial to human health. Previous study with palm oil shows increase in fat levels in sheep’s milk. Our hypothesis for increased fat in milk is that palm oil increases lipid metabolism as well as tissue reserves. Sheep consuming this palm oil will have a change in the fatty acid profile of milk, increasing levels of unsaturated fatty acids. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, as well as fatty acid profile of milk these ewes fed of palm oil.Materials, Methods & Results: Thirty-six lactating sheep were divided in four groups (n = 9), with each group receiving various concentrations of palm oil in diet (0%, 2%, 4%, and 6% which corresponds to T 0, 2, 4 and 6, respectively). The diets in each treatment were isoproteic and isoenergetic. The experiment lasted 120 days, and blood and milk samples were collected on days 60 and 12 of the experiment. Blood was collected for seric analysis of lipid metabolism. Was collected milk samples and analyzed the content of saturated fatty acids (SFAs), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). An increase (P 0.05) between groups, but numerically the animals in T4 and T6 had higher percentage of fat in milk. A decrease in milk SFA levels was observed on day 120 at T6. There was a significant reduction in caproic acid, caprylic acid, hendecanoic acid, lauric acid, and pentadecyl acid. The levels of palmitic acid (C160) increased when compared with the control group.[...]