Fatty acid profile in milk of cows fed triticale silage in small-scale dairy systems in the highlands of central Mexico

Abstract

Milk contains fatty acids (FA) beneficial to human health, so there is interest in the effect of feeding strategies on the FA content of milk. Small-scale dairy systems require conserved forages in the dry season. Cow diets of silages and concentrates yield a lower content of beneficial FA in milk. The objective was to determine the FA profile of feeds and milk from dairy cows on daytime grazing of pastures fed two levels of triticale silage and concentrate. Eight Holstein cows grazed pastures of perennial ryegrass or tall fescue. Triticale silage was offered at two levels (7.5 and 5.0 kg DM/d), in addition to 4.65 kg DM/d of concentrate. The experimental design was a 2 × 2 factorial with two pastures and two levels of silage in a repeated 4 × 4 Latin Square. Linolenic, linoleic, and palmitic acids comprised over 85% of FA in forages, and linoleic acid constituted 50% of FA in the concentrate. There were no differences in the milk composition, or the FA content of milk among treatments or periods (P>0.05). A higher inclusion of triticale silage did not change the fatty acid profile of milk. The content of beneficial FA in milk was similar to that of grazing cows.