Enrichment of Milk with Conjugated Linoleic Acid by Supplementing Diets with Fish and Sunflower Oil

Abstract

There is an increase interesting in enrichment of milk with Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) due to its anti-oxidative and anti-carcinogenic properties. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of supplementing diets fed to lactating goats with sunflower, fish oil and its blend. Eight lactating Nubian goats were fed a base diet (T1), diet supplemented with 2% sunflower oil (on dry matter (DM) basis) (T2), diet supplemented with 2% fish oil (T3) and diet supplemented with 2% sunflower and fish oil (T4) for 84 day. Milk composition milk fat, protein (%) decreased in T2, T3 and T4 compared with control (T1) while there was no significant differences between treatments in milk lactose content. CLA content in milk fat was higher in response to fish oil or sunflower and fish oil blend compared with control (T1). The results indicated that supplementing diets fed to lactating goats with sunflower, fish oil increased CLA contents in the milk 2-4 times than control.