In the Iblei plateau (Sicily, Southern Italy) the native dairy cattlebreed Modicana during the spring season grazes exclusively on naturalpastures for the production of the Ragusano protected denominationof origin cheese. Along the grazing season, herbage undergoes tochanges on protein, fibre and moisture content, affecting qualityparameters such as plant carotenoids concentration, involved in thecolour and nutritional characteristics of dairy products and potentialbiomarkers for authenticating fed green pasture-based diets. The aimof this work was to assess whether the cheese traceability index, basedon the carotenoids spectra data elaboration, could be related to seasonalvariations of floral composition and pasture quality. Four herbageand cheese samples were collected every two weeks in two representativefarms of this area, from March to May 2013. Pasture characteristicsas pastoral vegetation composition and pastoral value wereanalysed using the methodology developed for pastoral resources studies.Traceability index showed a significant positive correlation withpasture moisture and crude protein content (r=0.729* and 0.853**,respectively), while it was negatively correlated with fibre content (r=–0.719*).

Pasture quality and cheese traceability index of Ragusano PDO cheese

COPANI, Venera;GUARNACCIA, Paolo;BIONDI, Luisa;TESTA, GIORGIO;COSENTINO, Salvatore
2015-01-01

Abstract

In the Iblei plateau (Sicily, Southern Italy) the native dairy cattlebreed Modicana during the spring season grazes exclusively on naturalpastures for the production of the Ragusano protected denominationof origin cheese. Along the grazing season, herbage undergoes tochanges on protein, fibre and moisture content, affecting qualityparameters such as plant carotenoids concentration, involved in thecolour and nutritional characteristics of dairy products and potentialbiomarkers for authenticating fed green pasture-based diets. The aimof this work was to assess whether the cheese traceability index, basedon the carotenoids spectra data elaboration, could be related to seasonalvariations of floral composition and pasture quality. Four herbageand cheese samples were collected every two weeks in two representativefarms of this area, from March to May 2013. Pasture characteristicsas pastoral vegetation composition and pastoral value wereanalysed using the methodology developed for pastoral resources studies.Traceability index showed a significant positive correlation withpasture moisture and crude protein content (r=0.729* and 0.853**,respectively), while it was negatively correlated with fibre content (r=–0.719*).
2015
Carotenoids, Modicana cattle, Pasture quality
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11769/40778
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