Fatty Acid Profile in Goat Milk from High- and Low-Input Conventional and Organic Systems

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The nutritional composition of goat milk is the focus of an ongoing discussion regarding its possible consideration as functional food. Different livestock production systems can lead to a different nutritional composition of milk. Some classes of fatty acids, detected in favourable amounts, are considered important bioactive components of food because of their potential beneficial effects on human health. It is an interesting topic to consider in view of the current debate regarding the incidence of dairy products in the risk of human coronary heart diseases. In our study, we confirmed that a low-input (LI) production system in goats rearing, leads to a milk richer in favourable nutritional components compared to a high-input (HI) system. Moreover, comparing lipid profile of milk obtained under different rearing systems, a multivariate statistic approach allows for the discrimination between LI-organically certified, LI-non organically certified and HI-conventional goat milk samples. These results may contribute to enhance the characterisation of goat dairy products and could help raise the appreciation of consumers towards goat dairy products, thereby adding value to their market. ABSTRACT: According to the knowledge that the composition in fatty acids of milk is related to the production system, we determined the fatty acid composition of goat milk yielded in three different Italian farms. Two low-input system farms; one organic (LI-O) and one conventional (LI-C), and one high-input system conventional farm (HI-C) were involved in the study. Significant differences were detected among the different groups considering the fatty acid pattern of milk. Fatty acids (FA) strictly related to the rearing system, such as odd and branched chain fatty acids (OBCFA), linoleic acid (LA, 18:2 n6), alpha-linolenic acid (ALA, 18:3 n3), elaidic acid (EA, 18:1 n9), total n6 and total n3 FA, were identified as the most significant factors in the characterization of samples coming from low- or high-input systems. OBCFA amounts were found to be higher (p < 0.05) in the LI-O milk (4.7%), followed by the LI-C milk (4.5%) and then by the HI-C milk (3.4%). The same trend was observed for Σn3 FAs, mainly represented by ALA (0.72%–0.81% in LI-O systems and 0.41% in HI-system), and the opposite for Σn6 FAs, principally represented by LA (2.0%–2.6% in LI-systems and 3.1% in HI-system). A significant (p < 0.01) discrimination among samples clusters coming from the different systems was allowed by the principal component analysis (PCA).