Dairy farms of mountainous areas are characterized by low productivity, but generally the milk is used for the production of high quality and PDO cheeses. For this reason, the initial disadvantage can become an opportunity for the traditional dairy systems. This study was conducted on 473 dairy farms of the Trento province with the aim to verify the effect of farm management (environment) on the variability of the milk yield and quality due to the breed effect (genotype). In particular, the differences between breeds were estimated in mixed farms with different management and feeding strategies. For each farm we collected the following data: number of cow per breed, housing condition (free vs tie stalls), diet administration (Total Mixed Rations vs separate feeding) and quality (percentage of starch, NDF and Crude Protein). Milk production and quality data were collected from test day recording and Consortium of Cooperative Dairies of the Trento Province (CONCAST), for a total of 110,711 milk analysis. A multiple regression analysis was performed to estimate the genetic contribution corrected for the structural and nutritional sources of variation. At national level, Brown Swiss (BS), Italian Simmental (IS) and two northeastern autochthonous breeds (Rendena – Re – and Alpine Grey – AG) produce much less milk than Italian Friesian (IF): -23.4%, -28.5%, -45.1% and -45.3%, respectively. These differences reflect both genetic and environmental effects on milk production. The estimates obtained in mixed breed farms of Trento Province, after having taken into account the main structural (herd size, housing condition) and nutritional (TMR, use of silages, NDF%, CP%) sources of variation, shows further lower differences among breeds (BS -13.0%, IS -13.4%, Re -30.6% and AG -30.7%, respect to IF), that reflect more the genetic contribution to phenotype. Taking into account the milk composition, the differences among breeds in terms of daily fat + protein yield (BS -6.7%, IS -10.7%, Re -33.4%, and AG -29.9%, respect to IF) are even smaller than for milk yield. In conclusion, farm management significantly affects milk yield and quality in mountainous dairy farms and it can strongly reduce the estimates of the differences among the breed of cows.
Milk yield and quality of dairy and dual purpose cows reared in single breed and mixed breeds farms in mountain
ZENDRI, FRANCESCO;MARCHIORI, ELISA;STURARO, ENRICO
2013
Abstract
Dairy farms of mountainous areas are characterized by low productivity, but generally the milk is used for the production of high quality and PDO cheeses. For this reason, the initial disadvantage can become an opportunity for the traditional dairy systems. This study was conducted on 473 dairy farms of the Trento province with the aim to verify the effect of farm management (environment) on the variability of the milk yield and quality due to the breed effect (genotype). In particular, the differences between breeds were estimated in mixed farms with different management and feeding strategies. For each farm we collected the following data: number of cow per breed, housing condition (free vs tie stalls), diet administration (Total Mixed Rations vs separate feeding) and quality (percentage of starch, NDF and Crude Protein). Milk production and quality data were collected from test day recording and Consortium of Cooperative Dairies of the Trento Province (CONCAST), for a total of 110,711 milk analysis. A multiple regression analysis was performed to estimate the genetic contribution corrected for the structural and nutritional sources of variation. At national level, Brown Swiss (BS), Italian Simmental (IS) and two northeastern autochthonous breeds (Rendena – Re – and Alpine Grey – AG) produce much less milk than Italian Friesian (IF): -23.4%, -28.5%, -45.1% and -45.3%, respectively. These differences reflect both genetic and environmental effects on milk production. The estimates obtained in mixed breed farms of Trento Province, after having taken into account the main structural (herd size, housing condition) and nutritional (TMR, use of silages, NDF%, CP%) sources of variation, shows further lower differences among breeds (BS -13.0%, IS -13.4%, Re -30.6% and AG -30.7%, respect to IF), that reflect more the genetic contribution to phenotype. Taking into account the milk composition, the differences among breeds in terms of daily fat + protein yield (BS -6.7%, IS -10.7%, Re -33.4%, and AG -29.9%, respect to IF) are even smaller than for milk yield. In conclusion, farm management significantly affects milk yield and quality in mountainous dairy farms and it can strongly reduce the estimates of the differences among the breed of cows.Pubblicazioni consigliate
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