Milk quality, coagulation properties, and curd firmness modeling of purebred Holsteins and first- and second-generation crossbred cows from Swedish Red, Montbéliarde, and Brown Swiss bulls

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to investigate how the crossbreeding of Holstein (HO) cows with bulls from Nordic and Alpine European breeds affect milk quality traits, traditional milk coagulation properties (MCP), and curd firmness modeling obtained from individual milk samples. A total of 506 individual milk samples were collected from evening milking at 3 commercial farms located in Northern Italy. Over the past decade, the 3 farms have followed crossbreeding programs in part of their herds, whereas the remainder of the animals consisted of purebred HO. The basic scheme was a 3-breed rotation based on the use of Swedish Red (SR) semen on HO cows (SR × HO), the use of Montbéliarde (MO) semen on first-cross cows [MO × (SR × HO)], and the use of HO semen in the third cross. In all herds, a smaller proportion of purebred HO were mated to M and Brown Swiss (BS) bulls, and these first crosses were mated to SR and MO bulls, respectively. Milk samples were analyzed for milk composition and MCP, and parameters for curd firmness were modeled. Compared with purebred HO, crossbred cows produced less milk with lower lactose content, higher fat and protein content, and a tendency for higher casein content. Crossbred cows generally produced milk with a more favorable curd-firming rate (k20) and curd firmness 30min after rennet addition, among traditional MCP, and better trends of curd firmness measures as shown by model parameters: estimated rennet coagulation time, asymptotical potential value of curd firmness, and curd-firming instant rate constant. Among crossbred cows, SR × HO presented longer rennet coagulation time compared with MO × HO and BS × HO cows, and MO × HO showed shorter k20 compared with BS × HO cows. Among second-generation cows, those sired by SR bulls showed a lower incidence of noncoagulated samples, higher curd firmness 30min after rennet addition and asymptotical potential value of curd firmness, and faster curd-firming instant rate constant compared with animals sired by MO bulls. Our results revealed that different sire breeds were characterized by specific technological aptitudes, but that these were not strictly related to other milk quality traits. Furthermore, the favorable characteristics (in terms of the quality and technological properties of milk) could be maintained in the third generation of 3-way crosses without negative effects on milk yield, even though the HO heritage had been reduced from 50 to 25%. Our findings, therefore, suggest that different types of sires can be chosen (depending on the intended use of the milk) to ensure the optimization of farm crossbreeding programs.