Guido Ferruzzi

Effect of kind of dietary fat on the quality of milk fat from Italian Friesian cows

Four diets, supplemented with different fats of vegetable origin, were compared in a 4×4 Latin square design with eight primiparous Italian Friesian cows (two cows per cell). The four fats were: toasted full fat soy bean in diet WS; toasted full fat linseed in diet WL; calcium soap of palm oil in diet PS; and calcium soap of olive oil in diet OS. Scope of the trial was to study the effect of the four different fat sources on milk yield and composition and on the quality of milk fat in terms of safety for the consumer health, with particular attention to trans fatty acids and to conjugated linoleic acid isomers (CLA). Diet OS induced the highest milk yield (P<0.05), while diet PS gave the fattest milk (P<0.05), and the highest milk content of both saturated and medium chain fatty acids (P<0.05). Saturated to unsaturated ratio of milk fat was decreased when cows were fed diet WS (P<0.05), while the ratio was increased with cows fed on diet PS (P<0.05). With a closely similar behaviour milk CLA content was enhanced with diet WS and strongly depressed (P<0.05) with diet PS. Diet OS increased total CLA as well, probably as a consequence of the bio-hydrogenation process of large amounts of oleic acid, transformed into trans isomers of C18:1, including vaccenic acids. Full fat soy bean promoted some milk fatty acids with beneficial effects on consumer health, but calcium soap of olive oil similarly improved the fatty acid profile of milk fat, while meeting the cows’ requirements as an energy supplement.

Olive oil calcium soaps and rumen protected methionine in the diet of lactating ewes: effect on milk quality

Abstract Eight Massese ewes were fed 4 diets with alfalfa hay as the forage (73% on the DM basis): 1) control diet (C); 2) diet C supplemented with olive oil calcium soaps, 50 g/d (L); 3) diet C supplemented with protected methionine, 5 g/d (M) or 4) plus both soaps and methionine (ML); the experimenthal design was a 4x4 Latin square with 2 replicates per diet. During the experimental periods, lasting one week each, the ewes were milked twice daily (8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.). Milk yield was not affected by diet quality, but milk fat percentage and 6.5% fat corrected milk yield were higher in diets L, M and ML with respect to diet C (P<0.05). Milk protein content was depressed and blood urea increased following the Ca soap diet alone or with protected methionine. Diet M worsened (P<0.05) Rennet clotting time (r) and curd firmness after 30 minutes (A30). Saturated fatty acids C10:0, C12:0, C14:0 and C16:0 were depressed in milk fat with the Ca soap supplemented diet, some of them significantly. C18:1 increased (P<0.05) with diet L only, whereas the association of Ca salts and methionine in diet ML significantly affected the linoleic acid and CLA content. It is concluded that the use of olive oil fatty acids as a protected fat source seems to improve the milk fatty acid characteristics towards a safer pattern, but the presence of this type of Ca salts in the diet appears to worsen the metabolic utilisation of amino acids.

Application of the "Tracking signal method" to the monitoring of udder health and oestrus in dairy cows

Abstract Two time series models, namely, the moving average model of lag 14 (MAM) and the tracking signal method (TSM), have been used to detect oestrus and udder health in dairy cows based on activity data and electrical conductivity, respectively. The results show that the use of on-line activity data allowed us to obtain high values of sensitivity and specificity for oestrus detection irrespective of the model used. Regarding udder health, sensitivity and specificity values showed that the number of clinical and subclinical mastitis cases detected was similar for the two models, but the specificity value using TSM resulted in a significantly higher value than MAM. Thus, the TSM method could be considered advantageous because of reduction in the number of false positive in healthy cows. The results show that electrical conductivity data of mixed milk samples are useful to detect both clinical and subclinical mastitis with a good sensitivity, if the milk electrical conductivity on-line is correctly measured.

Effect of different processing methods on the nutritional characteristics and tannin content of fababean seed (Vicia faba minor)

Abstract In the last years, because of their high protein content, the demand of legume seeds is significantly increased. In the centre and southern Italy fababean (Vicia faba minor) can play an important role as alternative protein source in ruminant nutrition. In this trial has been studied the effect of different treatments (flaking, cooking, dehulling, germination) on the in vitro digestibility and tannin content of fababean seeds. The in vitro OM and NDF digestibility of seeds were significantly (P<0.05) improved by dehulling and flaking. The in vitro OM digestibility of dehulled fababean (99.27%) showed higher values (P<0.05) than the other treated seeds as well as in vitro NDF digestibility (90.33%, P<0.05). Germination of fababean reduces the in vitro digestibility of OM and NDF. Cooking in water was more effective in reducing tannins than other treatments. Compared to the untreated the cooked has significantly (P<0.05) reduced the tannin content over 55% (2.71 g/kgDM vs. 6.10 g/kgDM). Germinated fababean did not affect the tannin content of seeds. The results from this trial suggest that thermal treatments applied to fababean seeds in order to reduce the tannins must be evaluated according to the cost/benefits ratio because this factors in seeds is low (<10 g/kgDM).

Milk characteristics of grazing sheep fed with different hay/concentrate ratio

Abstract Seasonal production of pasture forces in the period of grass shortage to supply the animal feeding with hay and concentrates. The supplies satisfy the animal nutritive needs, but reduce the advantages coming from the grazing on milk quality. The present trial was carried out on Massese breed on a low productive pasture, testing four kinds of feeding supplies with different hay/concentrate ratio. The individual milk productions, the chemical composition so as the acidic milk composition have been controlled for six weeks. Although the four feeding supplies given to the animals had different chemical-nutritional values (diet A 0.84 MFU/kgDM with forage/concentrate ratio 1:1.7; B 0.78 with 1:1; C 0.72 with 1: 0.7; D 0.68 with 2:1), they did not influence the milk production which resulted quite low and without significant differences. Results did not show differences in relation to the nutritional characteristics and the acidic milk composition. In the four groups Vaccenic acid and Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) of milk showed similar and decreasing trends during the trial. These trends were probably due to the progressive grass reduction on the grazing: the effects on the dietetic characteristics of the milk did not depend on the supply but on the quantity of grass intaken during the grazing.

Effect of different breed on Ragusano cheese quality

15.30-16.00 Elisabetta Canali, Sara Barbieri, Michela Minero, Valentina Ferrante, Silvana Mattiello, Adroaldo Zanella AWIN project: innovation in animal welfare assessment .......................................................................................................................................C-001 16.00-16.15 Susanna Lolli, Inma Estevez, Lorenzo Ferrari, Tatiane Terumi Negrão Watanabe, Sezen Ozkan, Carlo Tremolada, Valentina Ferrante Protocol development for welfare assessment in commercial turkey farms .....................................................................................................C-002 16.15-16.30 Monica Battini, Sara Barbieri, Guido Bruni, Giorgio Zanatta, Silvana Mattiello Testing the feasibility of a prototype welfare assessment protocol in intensive dairy goat farms ..............................................................C-003 16.30-16.45 Katia Parati, Rossana Capoferri, Livia Moscati, Marco Sensi, Guerino Lombardi, Francesca Battioni, Gianpietro Sandri, Carlo Briani, Andrea Galli The effect of the relaying mode on welfare of the pregnant sow .....................................................................................................................................C-004 16.45-17.00 Marta Brscic, Giulia Vida, Annalisa Scollo, Giulio Cozzi, Flaviana Gottardo Relationship between pig welfare in the pre-slaughter phase and superficial bruises of their carcasses. .................................................C-005 17.00-17.15 Maria Lúcia Pereira Lima, João Alberto Negrão, Claudia Cristina Paro de Paz Corral modification for humane livestock handling can improve cattle behavior and reduce serum cortisol..........................................C-006 17.15-17.30 Isabella Lora, Marta Brscic, Luisa Magrin, Clelia Rumor, Flaviana Gottardo Effects of innovative horizontal fans on beef cattle health, growth and welfare .............................................................................................C-007 17.30-17.45 Miriam Iacurto, Roberto Steri, Germana Capitani, Federico Vincenti Animal welfare in beef cattle: performances and meat quality ............................................................................................................................C-008

Effects of storage time on technological ovine milk traits

Maternal abilities and piglet vitality were analyzed on 24 Meishan (MS) and 24 Large White (LW) gilts. Females were inseminated with a mixture of semen from both breeds. Three MS and 3 LW boars were used to constitute 3 duos formed by mixing of MS and LW semen in equal proportions. Farrowing events were studied over 5 successive batches. The proportion of purebred and crossbred piglets within the litter varied according to the duo used and the dam breed (p<0.01). The average within-litter percentage of purebred piglets in LW and MS sows was respectively 43% and 50% with use of duo 1, 64% and 23% with duo 2 and 69% and 81% with duo 3. Gestation was shorter in MS than in LW sows (111.6 vs 114.0 days; p<0.05) and litter size tended to be larger in LW than in MS sows (14.6 vs 12.8 total born piglets; p=0.08). Over the three first days of lactation, piglet probability of survival was similar between purebred and crossbred piglets born from LW sows (94.5% vs 95.0%) and higher in purebred than crossbred piglets born from MS sows (96.6% vs 98.7%, p<0.05). In LW sows, crossbred piglets were heavier at birth and more reactive in a novel environment than purebred piglets (1.29 vs 1.21 kg, p<0.10; reactivity score: 1.38 vs 1.03 respectively). In MS sows, purebred piglets had a lower birth weight than crossbred piglets but showed similar vitality (0.86 vs 1.08 kg, p<0.001; reactivity score: 1.00 vs 1.03). Birth process and piglet behavior in early lactation will be analyzed to estimate the interaction between dam breed and piglet genetic type (purebred vs crossbred) on the expression of maternal behavior and piglet vitality (udder activity and survival).Young horses normally live in small year-round stable groups including one stallion, their mothers, a few other mares, their siblings and unrelated peers. On the contrary, most of young domestic horses are generally maintained in same-age and same-sex groups from weaning until training. One has to consider that the absence of adult partners during ontogeny may be a source of behavioral disorders. In a first study, we focused on social conditions at weaning. While it is well known that presence of peers is of high importance to alleviate weaning stress, we investigated here the effects of the introduction of unrelated adult mares in groups of weanlings. Results showed that signs of stress were less pronounced and shorter in time in weanlings housed with adult mares than in weanlings kept in same-age groups (e.g. distress vocalizations: P<0.05; salivary cortisol: P<0.05). Besides, only foals deprived of adult presence exhibited increased aggressiveness towards peers (P<0.05) and abnormal behaviors (P<0.05). In conclusion, the presence of two unrelated adults in groups of weanlings not only alleviated weaning stress, but also favored positive social behavior and limited the emergence of abnormal behaviors. In a second study, we examined the impact of the temporary presence of adult horses on the behavior of 1- and 2-year-old horses. Results showed that young horses reared in homogeneous groups had a reduced behavioral repertoire, no real preferred partner and displayed many agonistic interactions compared to domestic horses reared under more natural conditions. Interestingly, after the introduction of adults, young horses expressed new behaviors (e.g. snapping, lying recumbent), preferential social associations emerged (P<0.05) and positive social behavior increased (P<0.05). Taken together, these results have important implications in terms of husbandry, indicating the importance of keeping young horses with adults.The aim of this work was to characterise the European consumer of pig meat (within ALCASDE project). A total of 822 respondents participated in a survey that was carried out Germany (DE n=132), Spain (ES n=133), France (FR n=139), Italy (IT n=140), Netherlands (NL n=132) and United Kingdom (UK n=146). All of them were selected for consuming pork > 1 time/month and stratified by age and gender, within each country profile. Respondents answered socio-demographic questions and frequency of consumption of different pork products, the most common purchasing place for fresh pork meat, if they were responsible for buying fresh pork at home, if they were responsible for cooking at home, and if they usually eat the pork with the fat. Data was analysed with FREQ procedure of SAS software. In general, over ninety percent of consumers ate fresh pork > 2 times/week (DE 96.2 %; ES 95.5 %; IT 92.9 %; NL 93.9 %; UK 97.3 %) except for FR (34.8 %). The most consumed product was the sausage in DE, dry cured ham in ES and IT; cooked ham in FR, mince meat in NL and sliced bacon in UK. In all the countries, the supermarket was the most common purchasing place of fresh pork with the exception of NL, where it was the traditional market. In general, the percentage of respondents responsible for buying fresh pork in their household was 91.0 %. In all countries, women were more responsible for buying fresh pork than men, and they were mostly between 41-60 years old. Ninety-one percent of respondents were partially responsible for cooking at home. Women were more responsible for cooking at home than men. France was an exception, where 49.6 % women and 50.4 % men cooked at home. Considering all respondents, 44.5 % ate the pork with the fat in all the countries (35.4 % of women and 54.6 % of men). The study showed differences among countries regarding respondents’ traits.

Sorghum used to fodder production in dry farming

Abstract In Italy water deficient increase forward to cultivate resistant crops for forage production. In the present research it has been studied the opportunity of using 2 varieties of sorghum: the “Sweet Creek”, used as green forage and for silage and the “True”, with thinner stalks, used as hay. The fodder production and the dhurrin content during the vegetative phase of the 2 varieties were recorded. Production and chemical characteristics of green and preserved fodders (hay and silage) were determined; moreover the nutritive value and the in vitro digestibility of DM were measured. Results confirm the good adaptation of the sorghum to the water limited conditions as those ones in which the test has been carried out; green and preserved fodders yield were high, however during the hay harvest problems due to the different drying dynamics of leaves and stalks were found. The dhurrin content of these two varieties, even in the young phase, allows the use for grazing of the regrown, which have good bunching.

Performance of Large White x Duroc pigs reared indoors and outdoors: meat and fat quality

Abstract During recent years, in order to satisfy consumer’s demand at meat quality and animal welfare, it has become popular to raise pigs outdoors. As reported by various authors this kind of rearing system may affects chemical-physical traits of meat but mainly the adipose tissue, characterised by an higher content of unsaturated fatty acids (Pugliese et al., 2004). The aim of this work is to verify the effect of rearing system on some meat and subcutaneous fat quality traits. For this reason, twelve Large White x Duroc pigs were raised under two different farming system following the organic regulations: six pigs were reared indoors while six pigs were reared outdoors on woodland pastures of 5000 m2. Both group were fed the same diet but, during the months of October and November, the pigs raised outdoors received 1kg/die of chestnuts (Castanea sativa) instead of maize. All animals were slaughtered at the target weight of about 140kg, reached at the age of 12 months for the indoor group and at the age of 13 months for the outdoor group. 24 hours after slaughtering, from all carcasses the left loin (muscle longissimus lumborum) was excised and vacuum packaged. The meat was analysed for the determination of: pHu, colour, water holding capacity (drip loss, water-bath loss and M/T ratio) and shear force on water-bath cooked meat; the subcutaneous fat was analysed for colour and shear force. To verify the effect of the different rearing system, data underwent to variance analysis (SAS, 1995). As regard the main results, the rearing conditions do not affect pHu values (5.43 vs 5.47), in agreement with results of other authors (Lebret et al., 2002; Pugliese et al., 2004). The colour parameters of meat are similar between indoor and outdoor pigs, in spite of the different age and of the attended different content of myoglobin. Shear force on water-bath cooked meat is significantly higher for the outdoors pigs (12.82kg vs 10.94kg) probably due to the higher exercise and to the older age at slaughter. Results of water-holding capacity show that outdoors pigs have a significantly lowest drip loss (2.78% vs 4.86%) and a significantly highest value of water-bath loss (32.36% vs 20.12%); no differences are revealed for the M/T ratio. These contradictory results on water-holding capacity are in agreement with other authors and may be related to the different methodologies used (Pugliese et al., 2004). As regard the quality of subcutaneous fat, it is possible to note that the outdoors pigs show lower value of C* (2.77 vs 4.56) and higher value of H* (58.33 vs 41.01) thus their fat is less coloured and clearer, in agreement with the results of Pugliese et al. (2004). No differences are revealed for shear force parameters: it seems that the consistence of fat is not influenced by rearing system even if it is well known that outdoors pigs have a different fatty acid composition than indoors pigs, mainly in terms of polyunsaturated fatty acid content. In conclusion it seems that the outdoor rearing system, further on influences the consumer perception of quality, effectively modifies some meat and fat quality traits, making interesting an ulterior deepening of this argument.