ABSTRACT
Mountain grasslands diversity and the impact on cow's milk fatty acid composition

Dušica Radonjic1*, Svetlana Acic2, Milan Markovic1, Olga Jokanovic1, and Milena Dokic1
 
Milk from pasture fed cows is widely recognized not only as a very valuable source of some nutrients, but also as a functional food. The aim of this study was to determine the content of fatty acids (saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) and their relationship in the milk fat of cows that were grazed on mountain pastures, during three phenological phases (early vegetative – early June, late vegetative – mid July, and reproductive – late August). The research was conducted on Bromus erectus Huds. semi-natural dry grassland in the Durmitor mountain, northern part of Montenegro. During the experimental period, changes in the chemical composition of the biomass from this grassland were determined. The most significant changes were an increase in the content of DM, crude cellulose and the decrease in the content of crude protein. The share of plants of excellent, very good and good quality was highest in the second phase, medium quality plants in the third phase, poor quality plants in the first phase, while the worthless and toxic in the first phase. A significant influence of the phenological phase on the milk fat content was found especially in the third phase, while milk protein, lactose and solids-nonfat content did not differ significantly. The content of the observed parameters in milk was high in all three phases, especially in the third phase, when was the highest content of fat (4.35%) and protein (3.39%) in milk. The content of saturated fatty acids (SFA) was the highest in the second phenological phase (85.16%), while the content of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) decreased through the phenological phases. The polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) content was the highest in the first phenological phase (3.02%), and latter it decreased significantly.
Keywords: Botanical diversity, cow?s milk, fatty acids, grassland, phenological phase.
1University of Montenegro, Biotechnical Faculty, Podgorica, Montenegro.
2University of Belgrade, Faculty of Agriculture, Belgrade, Serbia.
*Corresponding author (dradonjic5@gmail.com).