Composition and cheese suitability of milk from local Ukrainian cows and their crossbreedings with Montbeliarde breed

Abstract

The aim of this work was to compare the qualitative composition of milk and its suitability for cheese processing at cows of local Ukrainian Red-Spotted breed (URS) and their crossbreeds with Montbeliarde (MO) breed. The research was conducted at commercial farm in the Vinnytsia region, Ukraine (48° 57′01″ n.l., 28° 47′09″ e.l). At farm, two groups of purebred and crossbred first lactation cows-analogues with a population of 20 heads in each were formed. The use of crossbreeding cows URS × Montbéliarde breed had a positive effect on the milk composition and cheese suitability. It was established that local purebred cows exceeded purebred counterparts in daily milk yield by 2.47 kg. When the content of fat, protein and lactose in milk was higher in crossbreed group by 0.19, 0.19 and 0.12%, respectively. In addition, crossbreed cows surpassed purebred counterparts for the energy value of 1 kg of milk and theoretically possible output of rennet cheese by 0.142 MJ and 0.61 kg. The duration of the coagulation phase of milk obtained from crossbred cows was shorter than that of purebred analogues by 1.54 minutes.