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Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2004

Milk fat globule size is affected by fat production in dairy cows

Wiking L, Stagsted J, Lennart B, Nielsen JH

Abstract

The relationship between the size distribution of milk fat globule (MFG) and milk fat composition was examined for 52 Holstein cows. A correlation (R-2 = 0.54) was found between average diameter of the MFG and the diurnal fat yield of cows. The changes in size distribution of MFGs showed transition of medium size globules into large globules with increased fat synthesis. The activity of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase was found to decline with increasing average MFG size. Analysis of fatty acid composition demonstrated that the content of stearic, palmitic, palmitoleic and oleic acid correlated positively with the average diameter of the MFG. These results indicate that the MFGs grow larger when the fat synthesis increases, probably because of a limitation in production of MFG membrane. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Published in

International Dairy Journal
2004, Volume: 14, number: 10, pages: 909-913
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD

    SLU Authors

    UKÄ Subject classification

    Food Science

    Publication Identifiers

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.idairyj.2004.03.005

    Permanent link to this page (URI)

    https://res.slu.se/id/publ/3665