Antiossidanti nel latte d'asina

Gli asini rappresentano una delle specie che, nel corso dei secoli, ha subito una tra le più drastiche riduzioni numeriche. Alla fine del 1800, la loro presenza su tutto il territorio italia¬no era diffusa ed indispensabile; dal 1898 al 1900 fu addirittura pubblicato un giornale inti¬tolato “L’Asino”. Nel 1918 in Italia si contavano circa 950.000 capi asinini; 50 anni più tardi la loro consistenza stimata scese a 325.000 capi (Soldani, 1970) fino ad arrivare, nel 1981, a 124.000 capi (Baroncini, 1987) che precipitarono a 51.000 esemplari alla fine del 1990 (Sol-dani, 1993), per poi calare ancora drasticamente. Negli ultimi 10 anni, tuttavia, si sta assistendo ad un andamento in controtendenza ed il loro numero si è incrementato fino a 5 volte. Oggigiorno, il ‘patrimonio’ asinino è stimato intorno alle 62.000 unità (Corriere Nazionale, 05/10/2018). L’asino ha attraversato, pertanto, un lungo periodo in cui sembrava destinato a non trovare più posto nel “mondo occidenta¬le” ed alcune razze, nel frattempo, sono scomparse. Oggigiorno, tuttavia, grazie all’attività di conservazione delle razze animali in via d’estinzione negli allevamenti italiani, nonché agli sforzi di salvaguardia della biodiversità genetica ad opera delle Associazioni di Allevatori presenti sul territorio nazionale, è stato possibile garantire la sopravvivenza di numerose razze non solo di asini, ma anche di mucche, pecore, capre, cavalli e maiali a rischio di scomparsa (Marini, 2007) ..

Effects of age on chemical composition and tenderness of muscle Longissimus thoracis of Martina Franca donkey breed.

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of age on chemical composition and tenderness of donkey meat. These characteristics were determined on Longissimus thoracis samples taken from 40 entire donkey males of Martina Franca breed slaughtered at 12 (Group 1, n = 20) and at 18 months (Group 2, n = 20) of age. Tenderness was evaluated at two and seven days post slaughter using a Warner-Bratzler shear force device. The chemical composition showed a signifycant increase in protein content (P < 0.05) in the meat of donkeys slaughtered at 18 months of age (22.3 g/100g) compared to the meat of younger animals (21.4 g/100g). Intramuscular fat content was significantly lower (P < 0.05) in Group 1 (2.41 g/100g) compared to Group 2 (3.71 g/100g). Shear force values at seven days post slaughter were significantly (P < 0.01) lower ((5.15 ± 0.31) kg/cm2) in Group 1 compared with the results obtained at two days post slaughter ((6.25 ± 0.53) kg/cm2). In Group 2 shear force values obtained seven days post mortem were higher ((5.88 ± 0.23) kg/cm2) compared with Group 1 after the same ageing period but significantly (P < 0.05) lower if compared with those ((6.53 ± 0.23) kg/cm2) determined in the same animals two days post slaugher

Physical and chemical characteristics of doneky meat from Martina Franca breed

The rheological and chemical characteristics of meat obtained from 12 Martina Franca donkey males, slaughtered at 14 months of age and a mean final body weight of 169 kg were determined. Meat samples were taken four days post mortem from muscles Longissimus thoracis et lumborum and Biceps femoris, colorimetric parameters were measured to determine L* (lightness), a* redness), b* (yellowness) and chroma. The Longissimus was significantly lighter (P < 0.05) compared to the Biceps femoris, with L* indexes of 35.86 and 31.34, respectively. Fatty acid composition of the intramuscular fat showed a high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in both muscles, respectively 25.16 g/100 g total fatty acids in the Longissimus and 24.97 g/100 g total fatty acids in the Biceps femoris; oleic acid and palmitic acid were the two most abundant fatty acids in both muscles. The percentages of essential amino acids were higher in both muscles compared with the total amino acid content, respectively 52.88% in the Longissimus, and 51.26% in the Biceps femoris. The high level of unsaturation of the intramuscular fat resulted in a high ratio of unsaturated to saturated fat, and the total amount of essential amino acids, exceeding 50% of the total amino acids showed that donkey meat from a health point of view is a good alternative to traditional red meats

Donkey milk production: state of the art

Milk is one of the most common causes of food allergies among children under one year of age. No specific therapy exists for this allergy, and thus the only feasible response is to avoid assumption of milk and derived products. Studies conducted on the serum of children with hypersensitivity to milk have shown that caseins are the proteins with the greater allergenic potential. However, in some cases, children have also shown hypersensitivity to the β-lactoglobulines and to the α-lactalbumins. When food intolerance is diagnosed in an infant, it is often necessary to impose a period of total parenteral feeding, followed by breast feeding, considered the most correct method of re-feeding. When human milk can not be given, alternative food sources must be sought. Clinical studies have demonstrated that donkey milk could substitute breast feeding in infants affected by severe Ig-E mediated milk allergies. In these subjects, donkey milk is not only useful, but also safer than other types of milk. In fact donkey milk composition in lipids (high levels of linoleic and linolenic acid) and proteins (low caseins content) is very close to human milk. Lysozyme content in donkey milk resulted to be very high (mean value 1.0 mg/ml) if compared to bovine (traces), caprine (traces) and human milk. The high lysozyme content of donkey milk may be responsible of the low bacterial count reported in literature and also makes this milk suitable to prevent intestine infections to infants. Among seroproteins, β-lactoglobulin and α-lactalbumin content in donkey milk was respectively 3.75 and 1.80 mg/ml and remained substancially the same during the different stages of lactation

Natural additive (aqueous extract) in rabbit diet: effects on performance and oxidative and innate immunological status

Abstract - Natural antioxidants are receiving increased attention in human and animal nutrition because of their association with food quality characteristics and immune responses 1, 2. Aromatic plants and their essential oils are good sources of natural antioxidants, such as phenolic compounds, e.g., eugenol, thymol, carvacrol 3. Plant such as Oregano (Origanum vulgare) has attracted great interest as its essential oil is rich in the monoterpenes, thymol and carvacrol, which exhibit good antioxidant and antimicrobial activities in vitro and in vivo, together with stimulating animal digestion 4. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation with an Oregano aqueous extract on performance and oxidative and innate immunological status of growing rabbits. The experimental protocol was planned according to University of Perugia Animal Committee guidelines and the trial was carried out at the experimental farm of the Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Science (University of Perugia, Italy). At weaning (30 days of age) 240 weaned New Zealand White rabbits of both sexes were randomly allocated to three dietary groups, homogeneous for live weight and gender (40 rabbits/group), and housed in single wire net cages (600 x 250 x 330 mm) until 80 days of age, when they were weighted and slaughtered. The study was replicated with identical experimental designs during two consecutive cycles, for a total of 80 animals/group. Dietary groups were: Standard diet - with no supplementation (S); Standard diet + 150 ppm Vit E - positive control (E); Standard diet + 0.2% oregano (Origanum vulgare) aqueous extract (O). All diets, provided by Mignini&Petrini (Petrignano di Assisi, Perugia, Italy) were isoproteic and isoenergetic and the main ingredients were alfalfa meal, sunflower seed meal, wheat bran, barley and sugar beet pulp. The oregano extract was provided by Phenbiox (Calderara di Reno, Bologna, Italy) after an enzyme-aided extraction from leaves using water as solvent. The extracts were added to the diets by spraying during the mixing of ingredients. Feed and water were available ad libitum. The temperature and lighting schedule in the rabbitry were 15–18 °C and 16L:8D, respectively. In order to calculate the feed conversion ratio (FCR) and average daily gain (ADG), feed consumption were recorded daily and rabbits weight weekly. At the slaughter, blood samples (2 mL for each rabbit) were collected from the marginal ear vein of 30 rabbits/group at 80 day of age and the natural immune responses were evaluated by analyzing lysozyme (Lys), Serum Bactericidal Activity (SBA) and Haemolytic Complement Assay (HCA) in serum 5. The oxidative status was evaluated using commercially available kits (Diacron International Srl, Grosseto, Italy) that evaluates the serum’s ability to oppose the massive oxidative action of a hypochlorous acid (HClO) solution (AOP values) or the reactive oxygen metabolite concentrations (ROMs). The extent of muscle lipid peroxidation of raw Longissimus dorsi muscles (LD) was evaluated by spectrophotometer as reported by some authors 6. Oxidation products were quantified as malondialdehyde equivalents (mg/kg of muscle). Muscles were obtained from eight rabbits/group at 80 days. The data were analyzed by SPSS Dietary treatments significantly affected the live weight (LW) and ADG at the end of the trial; particularly, O fed animals had higher LW (2344 g vs 2296 and 2277 g, respectively; P<0.05) and ADG (30.7 g/d vs 29.7 and 29.2 g/d, respectively; P<0.05) compared to E and S groups; whereas, FCR was not influenced by the experimental diet. The blood oxidative status (AOP and ROMs) did not significantly varied among the different animal groups, however, the oxidative stability (TBARs) of the LD meat for all supplemented diets led to a lower TBARs content compared to the control (S) group. Indeed, the inclusion of extra vitamin E reduced TBARs of LD meat, as did supplementation with oregano extract (0.17 and 0.18 vs 0.24 mg MDA/kg meat, respectively. P<0.05). A better natural immune response was observed in O and E vs S groups which showed significantly higher HCA (74.9 and 69.6 vs 45.4, respectively; P<0.05) and SBA (26.4 and 28.5 vs 15.8, respectively; P< 0.05) values. The HCA assay is very useful for assessing the onset risk of infections or the gravity of ongoing diseases [7]. SBA, in particular, expresses the serum capacity to counteract the GRAM- bacterial growth [8]. This study showed that an adequate phytogenic additive dietary supplementation in growing rabbits can exert a positive effect on productive performance, natural immune responses and give protection against meat lipid oxidation

Hypoallergenic properties of donkey’s milk: a preliminary study

Cow’s milk protein allergy (CMPA) is an abnormal immunological response to cow milk proteins, which results in IgE-mediated reactions. The therapeutic strategy to respond to CMPA envisages the total elimination of milk or the administration of cow’s milk substitutes. For this reason the use of milk from other mammalian species was tested. Among them, donkey’s milk proved to be the best alternative in feeding infants affected by CMPA, since its chemical composition is comparable to human milk. In this work an in vitro study was performed in order to analyze the IgE reactivity to milk protein allergens from cow, donkey and goat. In particular, immunoblotting experiments using sera from milk-allergic and non-allergic adult volunteers were conducted with the aim of verifying the hypoallergenic property of donkey’s milk. This study provided a preliminary evidence of the hypoallergenicity of donkey’s milk when compared to bovine and goat milk. Considering the obtained results, it would be possible to develop a sensitive diagnostic method for CMPA detection, based on chromatographic and immunoblotting analysis

Rapid Assay to Evaluate the Total Antioxidant Capacity in Donkey Milk and in more Common Animal Milk for Human Consumption

The milk antioxidants, by preventing lipid peroxidation, maintain milk quality, but they also exert a beneficial effect on the consumer’s health, in particular that of infants. Donkey Milk (DM), for its nutritional, functional and bioactive components, seems to be one of the best substitutes of breast milk when the latter is not available. However, there are few data about its antioxidant properties. In this study, the Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC) of donkey milk was determined by means of an in micro-plate assay. DM samples were analyzed at the first, third and fifth month of the lactation period (n 6/period), comparing results to those obtained in milk of different dairy species (goat, ewes, cows) and in breast milk using the same assay. The lactation periods did not affect the TAC of DM, whereas significant different values (P<0.001) were observed between species. The breast milk showed the lowest TAC value, followed by its progressive increase in donkey, cow’s, goat’s and ewe’s milk. The rapid test here adopted can be successfully employed for a reliable monitoring of the TAC in DM and, thanks to the constant antioxidant supply, DM can also be sponsored as a valid alternative to infant milk nutrition

Plant extracts in swine nutrition: Effects on some hematochemical parameters and sensory characteristics

There is an increasing public interest in the use of plant extracts in livestock feed. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of inclusion of oregano (Origanum vulgare L) and chestnut wood (Castanea sativa) extract in pig diets, on some blood parameters, and chemical and sensory characteristics of the meat pork. Ninety Suffolk hybrids pigs were randomly divided into 6 groups (3 indoor and 3 outdoor; 15 animals/group) and, after the adaptation period, both indoor and outdoor pigs were assigned to one of the following iso-nitrogenous and iso-energetic diets: a) control, a commercial pellet diet (16.0% CP, 4.3% CF, 1.0% Lysine produced by Nuovo Molino, in Bastia Umbra, PG); b) control with 0.2% oregano essential oil; c) control with 0.2% oregano + 0.2% natural extract of chestnut wood. Diets were administered for 190 d until slaughter. Blood samples were taken at the beginning (s 1), after 120 (s 2) and at the end of the trial (s 3) to check the health status of animals by some minerals and hematochemical determinations (Ca, P, Zn, Cu, Mg, Fe, total protein, beta-hydroxibutyrate, free fatty acids, tryglicerids, cholesterol, LDLcholesterol) measured with an automatic analyzer (Hitachi 74); whereas the chemical characteristics and sensory quality of the pork were investigated, the first, on a mincemeat separately prepared from carcass (n. 3 animals) of each diet group and on derived matured salami, the second only on the derived matured salami. In conclusion, the diet integrated with plants extracts didn’t interfere with the animal health status or the minerals and hematochemical blood parameters investigated. However, the chemical parameters of the salami showed statistically significant differences especially as regards to the content of lipids and cholesterol, lower in outdoor pigs respectively for 20% and 40%. By contrast, the “consumer test” used to assess whether the consumer perceives sensory differences on the final products showed that the salami made from indoor pigs were significantly more appreciated by consumers (P0,05), regardless of the type of the diet followed by the animal. Then is possible concluded that the consumer “choice” not coincide with the healthy characteristics of meat

Antioxidant and Ex Vivo Immune System Regulatory Properties of Boswellia serrata Extracts

Boswellia serrata (BS) is an important traditional medicinal plant that currently represents an interesting topic for pharmaceutical research since it possesses several pharmacological properties (e.g., anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antitumour). The safety and versatility of this dietary supplement should allow for its use in numerous pathological conditions; however the quality of the extracts needs to be standardized to increase the clinical success rate resulting from its use. In the present study, different commercially available B. serrata extracts were employed to compare their AKBA content and in vitro antioxidant power. Furthermore, their ability to modulate the immune system regulatory properties was investigated. Our results showed that the AKBA content varied from 3.83 ± 0.10 to 0.03 ± 0.004%, with one sample in which it was not detectable. The highest antioxidant power and phenolic content were shown by the same extract, which also exhibited the highest AKBA concentration. Finally, the BS extracts showed the ability to influence the regulatory and effector T-cell compartments. Our results suggest that frankincense should be further investigated for its promising potentiality to modulate not only inflammation/oxidative stress but also immune dysregulation, but attention should be paid to the composition of the commercial extracts

Dietary integration with oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) essential oil improves growth rate and oxidative status in outdoor, but not indoor, reared pigs

The effects of a diet supplemented with oregano essential oil on performance, oxidative status, pork quality traits and sensorial properties were evaluated. In two studies, 72 pigs in indoor or outdoor conditions were assigned to either a control diet or an identical diet supplemented with 0.2% oregano essential oil. Pigs reared outdoor showed lower live weight, average daily gain and average gain:feed ratio compared to indoor pigs. The oregano supplementation improved the growth performance of the outdoor‐ but not the indoor‐reared animals. The serum oxidative status was influenced by the diet. A higher oxidative stability was observed in the oregano‐supplemented groups. As for the rearing conditions, the data suggest that after an initial adapting period, the free‐range farming systems could be better tolerated by pigs. Meat derived from pigs reared outdoor showed higher pH and a* values. Lightness was influenced by both the diet and the rearing conditions. The control group reared indoor showed shear force values higher than both supplemented groups, while no differences were detected with the control group reared outdoor. In the consumer test performed under blind conditions, the oregano groups achieved higher consistency scores compared with the control. Under informed conditions, the meat derived from the oregano‐supplemented pigs reared outdoor received the highest scores for consistency and overall liking regardless of the rearing system. The same result for the overall liking score was obtained in the expectation test. The data obtained showed that dietary oregano essential oil can be effective in reducing performance losses due to the outdoor‐rearing system, increasing the oxidative status of the animal and oxidative stability of the meat, without modifying the meat quality traits and improving consumer perceptions of the meat quality