Aroma compounds of some Hyblean pasture species

The Hyblean pastures are characterized by a great variety of native forages, and offering opportunity for selective feeding by animals. Over 100 plant species belonging to over 25 families occur, although not all of these may occur in single pasture. The occurrence of pasture species and the selective forage behaviour of dairy cattle in very complex pastures was part of a larger study on the influence of diet upon cheese flavour. The plant diversity may contribute to cheese flavour. The animals were individually followed on the pasture and the kind of species and plant parts selected were recorded. The volatile constituents of the above-ground (aerial) parts of the most commonly occurring and selected plant species in the Hyblean pasture were extracted by steam distillation and analysed by GC-olfactometry (GC-O) and GC-MS. The number of odour-active compounds identified in the plants ranged from 12 in Sinapis to 26 in Erodium.