Increasing Polyunsaturation of Milk Fats by Feeding Formaldehyde Protected Sunflower-Soybean Supplement

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Abstract
A practical means of protecting fats of a feed concentrate containing high polyunsaturated fatty acids is described. A ground mixture of 30% soybeans and 70% sunflower seeds was treated with 1% formaldehyde to protect the unsaturated lipids from microbial hydrogenation in the rumen. This was fed as a supplement to 2 Holstein cows in amounts that were doubled weekly. These ranged from 524-8384 g/day and provided successively increasing intakes of 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1600 g of linoleic acid daily. Percent milk increased by more than 1% and linoleic acid (C18:2) of milk fat increased from 2.5 to 20% with compensatory declines in myristic (C14:0) and palmitic (C16:0) acids. Cholesterol and vitamin E of plasma both doubled at the highest supplementation. Milk yield, solids-not-fat, protein and milk cholesterol were unaltered. Fat in feces doubled from about 3 to 6%. Daily linoleic acid content of feces increased from 25 g to 120 g, indicating a dietary loss of 7-10% of this polyunsaturated acid. These cheaper feed ingredients elevated the polyunsaturated fats in milk as effectively as the expensive purified casein and safflower oil supplements in previous experiments.