Background and Objective: The reproductive ability of dairy goats can affect the sustainability of milk supplies which is influenced by the number of parturitions of does.This study aimed to understand the efficiency of the reproductive ability of dairy goats through blood serum parameters of goats with different numbers of parturitions.Materials and Methods: The study used lactating goats with approximate BCS of three which were kept in individual pens under the same circumstances and were divided into three groups based on the rates of parturitions.The blood serum was collected (n = 162) to study the changes in the blood serum parameters in the lactating goats, those with different numbers of parturitions.In addition, this study attended the uniformity of nutrient intake.Results: The blood serum parameters such as glucose, cholesterol, albumin and BUN differ significantly (p<0.05) and decrease if the number of parturitions increases.Conclusion: Regarding glucose, cholesterol, albumin, BUN, creatinine and total protein level, does with parturition one and two were best for nutrient availability to support reproductive activities.Does with parturitions of three and four were still proper to be used for breeding and lactation programs because the parameters of the blood serum profiles were still proper for reproductive activities.
Leech has been used as a medical device in health therapy all over the world.Leech saliva contains many active compounds which have antioxidant, antimicrobial and anticoagulant properties and bring health benefits.On the other hand, mastitis in dairy animals is an important disease-causing great economic loss.Control of this disease can be done through good animal husbandry practice and a nutritional approach.Mineral and vitamin supplementations are commonly done to maintain the immune system.Antioxidant supplementation plays an important role in eliminating free radicals significantly found in animals with mastitis.Antibiotic administration is done to eliminate bacteria causing mastitis.In addition, the use of anticoagulants might be useful as dairy animals suffering from mastitis may experience a kind of abnormal blood coagulation.In this context, having antioxidant, antimicrobial and anticoagulant properties, leech saliva is a potential material for subclinical mastitis control in dairy animals.
Background and Objective: Distillation of the Citronella plant (Cymbopogon nardus L.) produces essential oils and waste biomass.A preliminary study is needed to explore the relationship between Citronella waste biomass feeding and milk quality.The milk quality from the cows fed with Citronella waste biomass as an alternative forage was assessed in this study.Materials and Methods: A total of 10 Friesian Holstein (FH) cows were fed with 40 kg/head/day of solid Citronella distillation waste biomass at 8 am (20 kg/head/day) and 5 pm (20 kg/head/day) for 10 days.The Citronella replaces elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) as a source of forage.The milk samples were taken compositely on all treated cows and tested for physical quality, proximate analysis, heavy metals and microbial contamination.The analysis results were compared with the raw milk quality of the Indonesian National Standard/Standar Nasional Indonesia (SNI) and other standards from different countries.Results: The results showed that the physical characteristics of milk met the SNI.The protein, fat and lactose contents were 3.16 (SNI 2.8%), 5.38 (SNI 3.0%) and 4.63%, respectively.Heavy metal testing showed no mercury (Hg) and arsenic (As), while lead (Pb) was 0.01 g mLG 1 below SNI (0.02 g mLG 1 ).In addition, no microbial contamination was detected for Staphylococcus aureus and Enterobacteriaceae.Conclusion: These findings convinced us that Citronella waste could be used as an alternative forage in dairy cattle and produce good quality milk.Further research on the milk quality comparison between Citronella waste feeding and other forage feeding was suggested.
Background and Objective: Colorants from the fruit Basella spp., which are safer than synthetic substances, can be used in food colouring.This study investigated how Basella spp.fruit powder (BFP) affected the quality of goat milk yoghurt.Material and Methods: Goat milk yoghurt was fortified with 0-3% BFP.Differences in physicochemical, sensory and microbial properties were analyzed during storage for 21 days at 4±1EC.Results: Compared to the control, yoghurt fortified with BFP exhibited no statistical differences in pH, lactic acid, ash, fibre, protein, or fat content (p>0.05).Compared to the control, yoghurt supplemented with 3% BFP had higher syneresis, viscosity, carbohydrate and a* colour values, but lower moisture, L* and b* values (p<0.05).The colour, goat and yoghurt odour, sour flavours and overall acceptance of goat milk yoghurt with 2.5% BFP were slightly lower as compared to the control.Both the yoghurt with 2.5% BFP and the control showed significantly lower pH values (p<0.05) during the storage period, whereas, the lactic acid content slightly increased.The colour change was greater in yoghurt with 2.5% BFP had more lactic acid bacterial than the control, whereas, the total bacterial count was similar.Throughout the storage period, no yeast, mould, coliform bacteria and Escherichia coli were found.Conclusion: Adding BFP to goat milk yoghurt affects its good texture and nutritional value, including survival of lactic acid bacteria during storage.Therefore, BFP could be used as a natural colour substance in goat milk yoghurt, representing a new healthy food product for consumers.
Background and Objective: Medicinal plants and their Essential Oils (EO) are considered safe alternatives to antibiotics in animal feeding.So, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of thyme leaves or EO on the lactation performance of Damascus goats.Materials and Methods: Thirty-six multiparous lactating Damascus goats (4 years old, an average weight 35 kg) were divided into three groups (12 animals each) after a week of parturition.Animals in the control group (C) were fed Egyptian clover (Trifolium alexandrinum) plus concentrate feed mixture without additives at the ratio of 40:60, while the other experimental animals were fed control ration plus 1% thyme leaves of total DM (G1) or the equivalent as thyme essential oil (G2).Results: Data indicated that thyme addition in form of leaves or Essential Oil (EO) significantly increased the digestibility of DM, OM and CP, decreased the digestibility of CF and fibre fractions and improved TDN and DCP values.No significant effect of sampling time or thyme supplementation was observed on rumen fermentation parameters.The highest milk and FCM yields and the lowest blood concentrations of cholesterol and triglycerides were observed with thyme addition especially leaves form (G1).Moreover, decreases in total saturated fatty acids and increases in total unsaturated fatty acids concentrations in milk were observed with thyme addition.Conclusion: It could be concluded that the supplementation of lactating goat's ration especially with thyme leaves improved the digestibility, kids growth rate and produced the highest milk yield with more healthy aspects for consumers.
Background and Objective: One of the better strategies for reducing sodium chloride salt in food is substituting it with another similar salt.The main object of this study is reducing sodium chloride salt in high relatively salt content products, ensuring that sensory and safety characteristics of the products are not affected.Materials and Methods: The sodium chloride salt was replaced by potassium chloride by different proportions (75, 50, 25 and 100% of KCl) in two food models (beef burger and Tallaga cheese) to reveal the influence of NaCl salt substitution on some sensory parameters and safety through detection the E. coli viability in both products.Results: The flavour and taste were not significantly influenced in groups with 75% NaCl: 25% KCl in both models.Variable results showed in treatments with 50% NaCl: 50% KCl.However, groups with 75 and 100% KCl received the lowest score findings.While the texture of all groups was not significantly altered by substitution between NaCl and KCl salt in both food models.Conclusion: Sodium chloride salt could be replaced by potassium chloride up to 25 and 50% without and/or with a minimal effect on the sensory parameters in both food models (burger and cheese) as well as with a minimal positive effect on controlling the E. coli growth on the replacement of 50% NaCl by 50% KCl salt.
