A retrospective study on the effect of feeding type on donkey milk fatty acid composition

Recently, a growing interest in donkey milk use for human nutrition has been reported. Donkey milk is a valid substitute food for children affected by allergy to cow milk protein or by multiple food intolerance (Monti et al., 2012). The quality of donkey milk produced in Northwestern Italy has recently been surveyed (Cavallarin et al., 2015). However, information concerning the relationship of donkey milk quality with the feeding practice on farm is lacking, especially with regard to the lipid fraction. As observed for ruminants (Coppa et al., 2013; Chilliard et al., 2007), the composition of the lipid fraction, and in particular its fatty acid (FA) profile can be significantly influenced by animal diet (Salimei et al., 2004). The aim of the research was to evaluate on farm the effect of feeding type on the fatty acid (FA) composition of donkey milk collected in Northwest Italy.