D. FALTA1, M. ADAMSKI3, V. CEJNA4, O. HANUS2, F. LATEGAN5, R. KUPCZYNSKI3, G. CHLADEK1, R. FILIPCIK1 and L. MACHAL1
1 Mendel University in Brno, Department of Animal Breeding, 61300 Brno, Czech Republic
2 Dairy Research Institute, Ltd., 16000 Prague, Czech Republic
3 Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Department of Environment Hygiene and AnimalWelfare, 50-375 Wroclaw, Poland
4 Pribina – TPK, Ltd., 58222 Pribyslav, Czech Republic
5 University of Fort Hare, Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 5700 Alice, South Africa
FALTA, D., M. ADAMSKI, V. CEJNA, O. HANUS, F. LATEGAN, R. KUPCZYNSKI, G. CHLADEK, R. FILIPCIK and L. MACHAL, 2014. The effect of air temperature and breed on bovine milk composition and its processing quality. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 20: 215-219
A total number of 480 bulk milk samples were collected in ten dairy herds over the period of 48 consecutive weeks with the objective to assess the effect of air temperature and cattle breed on milk composition and processing quality. The samples were allotted into five temperature-based groups, namely: -5.0 to 0.0°C; 0.1 to 5.0°C; 5.1 to 10.0°C; 10.1 to 15.0°C; 15.1 to 20.0°C. The sample cow breeds consisted of Czech Fleckvieh (C), Holstein (H) breeds or their crosses (CH). The following mean values of milk composition and processing quality parameters were found (n = 480): fat content (F) 3.95 g.100g-1, protein content (CP) 3.36 g.100g-1, lactose content (L) 4.71 g.100g-1, solids non-fat (SNF) 8.96 g.100g-1, rennet coagulation time (RCT) 264.1s, titratable acidity (TA) 6.49°SH, active acidity (AA) 6.72, specific density (SD) 1.0279 kg.l-1, amount of milk produced on a sampling day (Q) 4 859 kg and air temperature (T) 7.61°C. Increasing air temperature was associated with a shorter (p<0.05) RCT and a lower F, CP, SNF and AA, TA and Q remained unchanged; SD and L were higher. C cows had a shorter RCT (- 17.3 s), a significantly higher F (+0.42 g.100g-1), CP (+0.25 g.100g-1), SNF (+ 0.24 g.100g-1) and TA (+0.33°SH), a significantly lower AA (- 0.02 pH) and SD (-0.0004 kg.l-1) and non-significantly lower L (- 0.02 g.100g-1) compared to H cows. No interactions were found between the effects of air temperature and breed for any of the observed milk parameters, e.g. RCT was shorter at higher temperatures in all breed groups.