Fatty acid profile of milk from goats fed diets with different levels of conserved and fresh forages

Aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of different proportions of hay and fresh grass in goats’ diet on milk fatty acid profile. Nine Camosciata goats were fed a fixed amount of concentrate (30% of total diet) and different percentages (40% vs 30%, 50% vs 20% and 60% vs 10%) of hay and fresh grass, respectively. Diminishing amounts of fresh grass percentages in the diet led to significant increases of lauric, myristic and palmitic acids (P £ 0.001) and to significant decreases of C18:1 t6-11, rumenic and a-linolenic acids (P £ 0.001) in milk, thus determining a worsening of the health value of milk fat.