Carlo Cosentino

Short communication: Jenny milk production and qualitative characteristics

The aim of this research was to study the influence of lactation stage and foaling season on some qualitative aspects of milk in South Italian jenny rearing. Milk samples were collected monthly from 23 jennies, that foaled in 2 different periods: spring and summer. On milk, the following parameters were measured: pH and titratable acidity; protein, fat, lactose, dry matter, and ash contents; and somatic cell count. Analysis of variance showed the effect of foaling season and of lactation stage. Milk production was highest in summer at 30 d and 60 d (1.58 and 1.78 L, respectively), and in spring at 120 d (1.25 L). The total protein content was highest in summer lactation at 30 d and 90 d (14.8 and 13.9 g/L). Lactose, dry matter, and ash contents (g/L) were highest in summer lactation at 30 d (54.0, 78.1, and 5.0 respectively). Jenny milk was shown to be poor in protein and fat and rich in lactose. Producing jenny milk could be an interesting, profitable, and alternative activity for farmers, mainly in southern marginal areas.

Short communication: Jenny milk as an inhibitor of late blowing in cheese: A preliminary report

Late blowing on semihard and hard cheese may have an important economic effect on dairy production. Many studies have attempted to prevent this defect by physical treatment, the use of additives, and the use of bacteriocins. In this paper, we look at the effect of jenny milk as an inhibitor of blowing caused by clostridia and coliforms in ewe cheese making. Bulk ewe and jenny milk samples were collected in the morning by mechanical milking and were refrigerated at 4°C. On the collected samples, the count of somatic cells, coliforms, Clostridium butyricum, and Escherichia coli were determined. The bulk raw milk was divided in two 45-L vats: vat 1 was used as a control, whereas 0.5L of jenny milk was added to vat 2. Four semihard cheeses, weighing about 2 kg each, were made from each vat. Cheese making was replicated twice. After a ripening period of 60 d, the count of coliforms and of C. butyricum was determined. In the treated group, a significant inhibition of coliform bacteria was observed. The addition of jenny milk in cheese making may prove to be a useful and innovative approach for the inhibition of spore-forming clostridia strains.

Effect of jenny milk addition on the inhibition of late blowing in semihard cheese

The occurrence of late blowing defects in cheese produces negative effects on the quality and commercial value of the product. In this work, we verified whether the addition of raw jenny milk to bulk cow milk reduced the late blowing defects in semihard cheeses. During cheesemaking, different aliquots of jenny milk were poured into 2 groups of 4 vats, each containing a fixed amount of cow milk. A group of cheeses was created by deliberately contaminating the 4 vats with approximately 3 log10 cfu/mL milk of Clostridium tyrobutyricum CLST01. The other 4 vats, which were not contaminated, were used for a second group of cheeses. After 120 d of ripening, some physical, chemical, and microbiological parameters were evaluated on the obtained semihard cheeses. Differences in sensory properties among cheeses belonging to the uncontaminated group were evaluated by 80 regular consumers of cheese. Our results showed that the increasing addition of jenny milk to cow milk led to a reduction of pH and total bacterial count in both cheese groups, as well as C. tyrobutyricum spores that either grew naturally or artificially inoculated. We observed a progressive reduction of the occurrence of late blowing defects in cheese as consequence of the increasing addition of jenny milk during cheese making. Moreover, the addition of jenny milk did not affect the acceptability of the product, as consumers found no difference among cheeses concerning sensorial aspects. In conclusion, the important antimicrobial activity of lysozyme contained in jenny milk has been confirmed in the current research. It is recommend for use as a possible and viable alternative to egg lysozyme for controlling late blowing defects in cheese.

Effects of different heat treatments on lysozyme quantity and antimicrobial activity of jenny milk

Thermal treatments are used to improve milk microbial safety, shelf life, and biological activity of some of its components. However, thermal treatments can reduce the nutritional quality of milk, affecting the molecular structure of milk proteins, such as lysozyme, which is a very important milk component due to its antimicrobial effect against gram-positive bacteria. Jenny milk is characterized by high lysozyme content. For this reason, in the last few years, it has been used as an antimicrobial additive in dairy products as an alternative to hen egg white lysozyme, which can cause allergic reactions. This study aimed to investigate the effect of pasteurization and condensation on the concentration and antimicrobial activity of lysozyme in jenny milk. Furthermore, lysozyme quantity and activity were tested in raw and pasteurized milk after condensation at 40 and 20% of the initial volume. Reversed-phase HPLC was performed under fluorescence detection to monitor lysozyme in milk samples. We evaluated the antimicrobial activity of the tested milk against Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus mojavensis, Clavibacter michiganensis, Clostridium tyrobutyricum, Xanthomonas campestris, and Escherichia coli. Condensation and pasteurization did not affect the concentration or antimicrobial activity of lysozyme in jenny milk, except for B. mojaventis, which showed resistance to lysozyme in milk samples subjected to heat treatments. Moreover, lysozyme in jenny milk showed antimicrobial activity similar to synthetic antibiotics versus some gram-positive strains and also versus the gram-negative strain X. campestris.

Diet of the Italian hare ( Lepus corsicanus ) in a semi-natural landscape of southern Italy

Abstract The food habits of the endangered Italian hare have not received adequate attention from researchers. In this study, the diet composition of this species and its seasonal variation were assessed by analysing faecal pellets in a semi-natural landscape in the south of Italy. The results showed that hares feed on 62 species of plants during the year, with a conspicuous presence of herbaceous ones (e.g., Trifolium pratense, Brachypodium sylvaticum, Festuca arundinacea) as these occurred at high frequencies in most of the faecal samples. In spring, diet composition was characterised by a high percentage of Graminaceae (>37%). In the other seasons, hares also included fruits (e.g., Prunus spinosa, Pyrus piraster, Malus sylvestris), which, in autumn, accounted for >27%. There were significant differences among seasons (p<0.001) in terms of Margalef’s richness, Shannon diversity, and Buzas and Gibson’s evenness. The smallest values of richness and diversity were observed in spring. Dietary overlap was low between spring and the other seasons; conversely, there was substantial overlap (>70%) in the diets during the other seasons with a more pronounced similarity between summer and autumn (Sørensen, Cs=0.80; Morisita-Horn, CMH=0.73).

Innovative Use of Jenny Milk from Sustainable Rearing

Thanks to its chemical composition and nutrient profile, jenny milk is usually recommended for the needs of newborn, heart and cholesterolemic patients. Nevertheless, the future use of this product is still to be defined. In the present, contributions of two promising ways of milk valorisation were discussed: natural cosmetics and new cheese productions. The results of our studies showed that face creams made with jenny milk allow a better skin hydration and moisturisation compared to conventional cosmetics. Moreover, the addition of small amounts of jenny milk is able to prevent late blowing defects in cow and in ewe cheese making. The provision of these findings to farmers may have important socio-economic and ecological implications.

Seasonal variation in food habits of the Italian hare in a south Apennine semi-natural landscape

The Italian hare is a species of hare endemic to central and southern Italy and to Sicily. It has been classified as a ‘vulnerable’ species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as it is considered to have a high risk of extinction in the next decade. Despite its endangered status, little is known about its feeding habits. In the present study, the seasonal pattern of diet composition of a population of Italian hare occupying a semi-natural landscape was estimated by using the micro-histological technique of faecal analysis. The results showed that hares had a diversified diet, consuming plant parts from over 70 species. Like other Lepus sp., the Italian hare consumed a large amount of herbaceous plants (e.g. Brachypodium sylvaticum, Trifolium pratense, Allium subhirsutum and Festuca arundinacea), although it complemented its diet seasonally with fruits of Prunus spinosa, Pyrus piraster and Malus sylvestris. Analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) evidenced significant differences among seasons, as a consequence of the seasonal occurrence of the various food items. Spring and autumn (R = 0.7482, P = 0.001), as well as spring and winter (R = 0.7398, P = 0.001), showed low diet similarities; these results were supported by similarity percentage analysis (SIMPER, average dissimilarity: > 71% between spring and autumn; > 69% between spring and winter) with taxa like P. spinosa, Cirsium strictus, T. pratense and Rosa canina making the greatest contributions to these differences. Higher similarities were instead found when comparing other seasons. This seasonal pattern of diet composition was clearly depicted in the graph from nonmetric multidimensional scaling (n-MDS) ordination. Our results highlight the importance of some plant taxa in the diet of the Italian hare and could be useful in managing reintroduction programs.

Effect of cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Miller) on the antioxidant capacity of donkey milk

The cladodes of Opuntia ficus‐indica (L.) Miller were fed to lactating donkeys as an alternative food, in order to evaluate effects on the chemical composition and antioxidant activity of their milk. Lactating donkeys were divided into two groups: standard feeding and alternative feeding. With regard to chemical composition, no differences were observed. Total antioxidant capacity was constant in the standard feeding group, while it increased in the alternative feeding group: the radical scavenging activity increased from 95.53% to 96.62% in the ABTS test and from 28.40% to 33.33% in the DPPH test. This indicated that alternative feeding affects the antioxidant capacity of milk.

Study on the protective effect of an innovative cow milk-based product against some human skin-bacterial pathogens

There is a growing interest related to the possible use of some components of cow milk that behave as immunomodulators, exert biological activity, and have anti-inflammatory factors. The aims of this study were: i) to investigate the chemical composition and antioxidant activity of Podolian cow milk; ii) to test the efficacy of some hand soaps supplemented with different percentage of cow milk compared to placebo; iii) to evaluate the antibacterial activity of milk added to soap. Antioxidant activity of Podolian milk resulted in mean 97.03% and 52.09% utilizing 2,2’-azinobis 3ethylbenzthiazoline-6-acid and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl methods, respectively. The efficacy test showed that the most effective soap was obtained adding 5% of Podolian milk. For this soap, total counting bacterial test evidenced the highest reduction of bacterial hand contamination assessed by 98%.

Diet composition of the Italian roe deer (Capreolus capreolus italicus) (Mammalia: Cervidae) from two protected areas

Abstract The Italian roe deer is classified as “vulnerable” in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species, as the few specimens of this endemism may have a high risk of extinction. Conservation efforts for the Italian roe deer cannot prescind from the study of the feeding habits of the taxon. Therefore, in the present study, the spring diet composition of the Italian roe deer from two protected areas was estimated by using the micro-histological technique of faecal analysis. Univariate measures of alpha and beta diversity were computed to assess spatial differences in diet composition between the sites. A total of 79 different species of plants were identified, with few species (mainly woody plants) comprising over a quarter of the diet. The most consumed species were Rubia peregrina, Quercus suber and Osyris alba in Site 1, and Q. cerris, Carpinus betulus and Crataegus monogyna in Site 2. Alpha diversity analysis showed that diet composition was quite rich and diverse in both sites, with nearly all the shared species eaten to an equal extent. Moreover, the values of alpha diversity indices were not significantly different between the sites. The degree of dietary overlap ranged from “low” to “high”, as most of the identified plants were unshared, whereas the consumption of some shared plants differed between the sites. In conclusion, our results showed that that this subspecies of Capreolus is capable of exhibiting both a generalist and an opportunistic behaviour in relation of food resource availability.