Using safflower supplementation to improve the fatty acid profile in milk of dairy goat

• Feeding safflower seed oil resulted in a significant increase of DM intake.
• Milk fat percentage decreased with safflower seed oil supplementation.
• There was a marked increase of cis-9, trans-11 CLA in milk fat in the presence of safflower seed oil.

Although supplementation effects of safflower seed oil (SSO) on dairy cattle have been extensively studied, little information exists on the effective use of SSO in lactating dairy goat. Thus, this study investigated the effects of SSO supplementation on feed intake, yield, composition and fatty acid profile of milk of lactating dairy goat. Fifteen multiparous Xinong Saanen dairy goats (63 ± 2 DIM) were assigned to a 3 × 3 Latin square for periods of 21-d. They were randomly allocated to three treatments: (A) unsupplemented (control), (B) supplemented with 10 g SSO (low dose, SSO-1), and (C) supplemented with 30 g SSO (high dose, SSO-2) per kilogram diet dry matter (DM) of total ration. Feeding SSO resulted in a significant increase of DM intake compared with the control (P < 0.01). Ruminal pH values in SSO-1 were increased in comparison with the control (P < 0.05). SSO supplementation increased the content of low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in serum (P < 0.01). Yield and ratio of mike fat with SSO supplementation decreased significantly compared with the control (P < 0.01). SSO supplementation decreased the ratios of short- and medium-chain fatty acids (C ≤ 16) but significantly increased the ratios of long-chain fatty acids (C > 16) in milk fat. Furthermore, SSO supplementation increased cis-9, trans-11 CLA contents from 0.49 g/day of the control to 0.68 and 1.18 g/day for SSO-1 and SSO-2, respectively (P < 0.01). This study demonstrated that SSO supplementation improved milk fat composition of dairy goat.