Unravelling the microbiota, fatty acids, and antioxidant activity of donkey milk from Greece

Donkey milk has gained increasing attention in recent years for its unique nutritional, medicinal, and cosmetic properties. This study employed a metataxonomic approach to investigate the microbiota of donkey milk samples collected from all farms operating in Greece during 2020-2021. Complementary chemical and culture-dependent microbiological analyses were performed alongside evaluation of milk fatty acid composition and antioxidant activity. Milk composition analyses showed no significant differences with published values, with variation observed only in fat content. Metataxonomic analysis identified the genera Acinetobacter, Enterococcus, Pseudomonas and Staphylococcus among the most abundant bacterial taxa, while Alternaria, Debaryomyces and Udeniomyces were the predominant yeast genera. Both classical microbiological and metataxonomic analysis confirmed the presence of lactic acid bacteria species. Several bacterial and fungal taxa correlated positively with donkey milk fatty acid content, while others negatively with milk total antioxidant capacity, thus affecting its composition and antioxidant potential.