Effect of lipids supplementation in the ration on production of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and milk fat composition of dairy cows

The objective of this work was to verify the effects of lipid sources (ground soybean and soybean oil) added to the diet on the fatty acids profile of milk fat, specially in the increasing of CLA. Six multiparus 7/8 Holstein-Zebu cows, 30 days after calving, with average body weight of 500 kg and average milk production of 20 kg/day, were used. The animals were divided in three groups in order to receive isoprotein and isocaloric diets (treatments), in which control diet had 3% ether extract in total dry matter and the others 7%. Comparing to the control one, the treatments containing supplementar lipids, decreased the percentage of short chain fatty acids and decreased the content of butyric, caproic, caprilic, capric, lauric, miristic and the percentage of saturated fatty acids. There was still a trend for reduction in the content of palmitic and palmitoleic acids and a trend for increasing the percentage of unsaturated fatty acids and long chain fatty acids. Supplementar lipids increased stearic acid and tended to increase oleic acid and CLA. Soybean oil, compared to ground soybean, decreased the content of linoleic and linolenic acids and increased CLA, tended to increase the content of undentified fatty acids and tended to decrease the saturated fatty acids. In conclusion, adding soybean oil and not crushed soybean in the diet increased the content of CLA in milk fat.