Effect of Sheep’s Milk Composition on Strength and Syneresis of Rennet-Induced Milk Gel During Lactation

Abstract

SUMMARYThis study investigates the effects of raw sheep’s milk composition on the strength and syneresis of obtained gels throughout the lactation. Casein, fat and total solids content, as well as ionic calcium mass fraction significantly (p<0.05) increased during lactation. As lactation progressed, milk formed firmer gel with higher syneresis ability. Increasing casein to fat ratio in sheep’s milk significantly increased (p<0.05) gel strength and syneresis. On the other hand, gel strength and syneresis were significantly reduced as a result of increased fat content in sheep’s milk. Ionic calcium mass fraction affected gel strength but not syneresis. Neither gel strength nor syneresis were affected by casein and urea content or by somatic cell count in sheep’s milk. Correlation coefficients between milk components and gel strength, as well as syneresis, were significant (p<0.01, p<0.05) but never higher than 0.35.

Essential and non-mutagenic elements in raw ewe milk

“…Similar results were found in a different region of Slovakia, Tulcik, where Ca concentrations in spring were significantly lower than those in summer or autumn [18]. Our results support also the conclusion of experiments with ewes, where the total calcium content tended to increase throughout the milking season with the lowest concentration in February and higher concentration in June [27] or in the late stage of lactation [28]. Our results show the lower average Ca concentrations (1084.88 and 1230.82 mg/kg in spring and summer, respectively) in ewe milk than found in other analyses [27,[29][30][31][32].…”

The Influence of Milk Standardization on Chemical Composition, Fat and Protein Recovery, Yield and Sensory Properties of Croatian PGI Lički Škripavac Cheese

“…Milk fat is a source of components that are partially responsible for the flavor and aroma, as well as body of cheese, and noticeably responsible for cheese yield [ 3 ]. However, excessive amount of fat in cheese milk can negatively influence the composition and attributes of cheese curd due to the low whey excretion during the treatment of cheese curd or cheese grain [ 4 ]. On the contrary, low fat content in the cheese milk could cause firm, elastic and doughy texture of cheese made from such cheese milk [ 5 ].…”