Effects of rapeseed and soybean oil dietary supplementation on bovine fat metabolism, fatty acid composition and cholesterol levels in milk

The main goal of this experiment was to study the effect of milk fat depression, induced by supplementing diet with plant oils, on the bovine fat metabolism, with special interest in cholesterol levels. For this purpose 39 cows were divided in three groups and fed different rations: a control group (C) without any oil supplementation and two groups with soybean oil (SO) or rapeseed oil (RO) added to the partial mixed ration (PMR). A decrease in milk fat percentage was observed in both oil feedings with a higher decrease of -1·14 % with SO than RO with -0·98 % compared with the physiological (-0·15 %) decline in the C group. There was no significant change in protein and lactose yield. The daily milk cholesterol yield was lower in both oil rations than in control ration, while the blood cholesterol level showed an opposite variation. The milk fatty acid pattern showed a highly significant decrease of over 10 % in the amount of saturated fatty acids (SFA) in both oil feedings and a highly significant increase in mono (MUFA) and poly (PUFA) unsaturated fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) included. The results of this experiment suggest that the feeding of oil supplements has a high impact on milk fat composition and its significance for human health, by decreasing fats with a potentially negative effect (SFA and cholesterol) while simultaneously increasing others with positive (MUFA, PUFA, CLA).