Anamaria Cozma

Occurence of Fusarium Mycotoxins in Wheat from Europe – A Review

Abstract The quality of cereals is very important for both human and animal nutrition. Fusarium mycotoxins include a great number of compounds. Trichothecenes, zearalenone (ZEN) and fumonisins are the major Fusarium mycotoxins occurring in cereal grains, animal feeds and forages. Conditions that predispose to mycotoxin production by Fusarium species include humidity, temperature, aeration and substrate type. Even if a great number of fungal metabolites have been designated as mycotoxins, a small number are known to have significant animal/human health and economic significance. For this, the world-wide impact of mycotoxins on human and animal health is likely underestimated and the future in this area is to identify additional specific biomarkers and group of biomarkers that can be used to establish the exposition of human and animals to individual mycotoxins.

Influence of the calf presence during milking on dairy performance, milk fatty acid composition, lipolysis and cheese composition in Salers cows during winter and grazing seasons

The milking of Salers cows requires the presence of the calf. The removal of the calf would simplify the milking routine, but it could also modify the milk yield and the milk and cheese composition. Therefore, the aim of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of calf presence during milking during sampling period (winter or grazing periods), on dairy performance, milk fatty acid (FA) composition, lipolysis and cheese yield and composition. Nine and 8 Salers lactating cows were milked in the presence (CP) or absence (CA) of their calves respectively. During winter, the cows were fed a hay-based diet and then they only grazed a grassland pasture. Calf presence during milking increased milk yield and milk 16:0 concentration and decreased milk fat content and milk total odd- and branched-chain FA (OBCFA) concentrations. Calf presence only increased initial lipolysis in milk collected during the winter season. Milk from CP cows compared to CA cows resulted in a lower cheese yield and ripened cheeses with lower fat content. Milk from the grazing season had lower saturated medium-chain FA and OBCFA concentrations and higher 18:0, cis-9-18:1, trans-11-18:1 and cis-9, trans-11-CLA concentrations than that from the winter season. Initial milk lipolysis was higher in the winter than in the grazing season. These variations could be due to seasonal changes in the basal diet. Furthermore, the effect of calf presence during milking on milk fat composition was lower than that on dairy performance, cheese yield and composition. Removing the calf during the milking of Salers cows seems feasible without a decrease in milked milk, and with a positive effect on cheese yield and fat content, under the condition that we are able to select cows having the capacity to be milked easily without the calf.