Milk quality characteristics of Boutsiko, Frisarta and Karagouniko sheep breeds reared in the mountainous and semimountainous areas of Western and Central Greece

Abstract

In this study, the chemical and microbiological characteristics of ovine milk from three indigenous Greek breeds was assessed. The breeds selected for this study were Boutsiko, Frisarta and Karagouniko. The milk yield of each breed was recorded at the early, mid‐ and late stages of lactation for two consecutive years. Among the three breeds, the average milk compositions obtained were similar for protein, lactose and total solids; however, fat values were significantly lower in Frisarta milk compared with Boutsiko and Karagouniko milk. The major fatty acids (FAs) in ovine milk were palmitic and oleic. The microbiological quality of Boutsiko and Karagouniko milk was superior to Frisarta milk.

Characterization and differentiation of sheep's milk from Greek breeds based on physicochemical parameters, fatty acid composition and volatile profile

“…Of the 15 different FAs identified in milk samples, only nine showed statistically significant differences among breeds. The percent composition of FAs in the present study is in good agreement with the results in the literature …”

“…Previous studies dealing with the determination of conventional quality parameters of milk samples from various Greek sheep breeds showed a significant variation in pH, lactose, proteins and total solids . Such variations in milk physicochemical parameters have been reported to depend on different factors such as sheep breed, diet, season, reproduction period, management practices, sheep health status and environmental conditions …”

“…The composition and sensory properties of milk vary substantially depending on numerous factors, including animal genotype, agro‐climatic conditions, milking season, type of feeding, time of milking of animals, etc . The geography of the farming area may also affect the kind of plants that are available as feed to sheep …”

“…To the best of our knowledge there are only limited studies in the literature attempting to differentiate sheep's milk originating from different Greek sheep breeds . Based on this, the objective of the present study was to differentiate sheep's milk from four different Greek sheep breeds using instrumental analyses in combination with chemometrics.…”

Seasonal variation of fatty acids composition of milk from grazing ewes in Thessaly, central Greece

“…The supplementation of feeds with fish oil, which is rich in MUFA and PUFA, affected the lipogenic genes of mammary gland and decreased the fat content of the ovine milk (Carreño et al, 2016). Previous studies on conventional feeding (hay and concentrates) of lactating Karagouniko ewes on the milk composition revealed that the fat content of the milk was dependent on the type of concentrates (Papadopoulos et al, 2002;Sinanoglou et al, 2015 ;Skoufos et al, 2017).…”