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New and Unique Study Shows Potential for Use of Milk from Native Cattle Breeds to Produce Commercial Bioactive Food Components

Date: 2021.04.29

Contact: farm-animals@nordgen.org

A recently published study has for the first time characterized oligosaccharides in milk from native North European cattle breeds. Milk oligosaccharides are of high interest due to their bioactive properties. The result of the study shows potential for new areas of commercial use of milk from the Nordic native breeds. This can be an important step in promoting the sustainable use of the breeds which in many cases are at risk of becoming endangered.

A newborn baby’s ideal source of nutrition is human milk, not least since it provides numerous biological activities. These activities originate from several different components of the milk, among them oligosaccharides which provide several key health promoting roles, such as acting as probiotics in the gut and modulating the immune system. Cow milk contains many oligosaccharides that are similar to those in human milk and several studies on milk from commercial cattle breeds have shown the potential use of this milk to produce bioactive food components, such as infant formula.

“However, the oligosaccharides in milk from native cattle breeds in northern Europe has never been analyzed before this study. The breeds carry a wide genetic diversity which is reflected in the variations of the phenotypic expression of oligosaccharides. This study also shows that milk from certain native breeds stood out in terms of relative total oligosaccharides”, said Anne Vuholm Sunds, PhD-student at the Department of Food Science at Aarhus University and lead author to the study “Comparison of bovine milk oligosaccharides in native North European cattle breeds”.

Outcome from Nordic network

The milk samples characterized in the study were analysed by the Barile Lab at the University of California and collected as part of the network NordMilk, which was coordinated by NordGen in 2016-2017. The fact that the efforts in the network now lead to concrete and relevant research outcomes creates hope for the native breeds.

“This kind of research is great news for the Nordic native cattle breeds. If we can find new markets for their products, we can create incentives for farmers to keep the native breeds instead of replacing them with more high yielding commercial breeds”, said Mervi Honkatukia, Section Leader at NordGen Farm Animals.

80 milk samples from eight breeds

In the study, 80 milk samples from eight native breeds were analyzed. The highest abundance of total milk oligosaccharides was found in milk from the Western Finncattle which had significant higher levels compared to all breeds and approximately double as high as the levels in the milk from the commercial breeds. In Finland, the vocational college Ahlman’s is keeping the breed as a living genebank and they were excited with the results from the study.

“The exceptionally good oligosaccharide results obtained from milk from Western Finncattle are very interesting. They give us new commercial opportunities and a completely new window for product development – for example by making new products at Ahlman’s own dairy. Based on the results, we could even use the milk for health products”, said Riitta Niiranen, Project Manager at Ahlman’s.

Neva (Eastern Finncattle) rests its head on Miilu (Western Finncattle) at Ahlman’s living gene bank.

According to her, the result from the study gives the vocational college another way to justify the need for living genebanks, as these special genes and traits can’t be recreated if lost.

“Entrepreneurs will also benefit from the study results as we now have an additional reason to preserve the breeds for the future. Dairy farmers with Western Finncattle can now get paid for the quality of the milk, and not just aim for the quantity”, Niiranen concludes.

New potential use of the Norwegian Døla Cattle

In the study, the authors also suggest that the breeding for increased milk yield in commercial breeds may have resulted in lower content of oligosaccharides due to earlier findings of beef cattle having higher total content of oligosaccharides in the milk. This is important for another Nordic native breed in, the Norwegian Døla Cattle, which originates from the rich valley pastures north of Oslo. It is listed as endangered even though the population size has increased over the decades, much due to conservation work done by the breeding organization Dølafelaget. Morten Bjerkvik is the chairman of the organization and is very optimistic about the new findings in the study.

“This can be very good news for the Norwegian Døla Cattle. The breed has only recently gone from being critically endangered to just being endangered. But all progress is due to an increase in its use as a suckler cow. As a dairy cow, the breed is almost extinct. Using it for its milk could be one way of saving the breed for the future”, he said.

Dølafe. Image: Anna Rehnberg/Norsk genressurssenter

The eight native North European cattle breeds whose milk was analyzed were:

Norwegian Døla cattle
Norwegian Telemark cattle
Swedish Mountain cattle
Danish Red anno 1970
Icelandic cattle
Native Lithuanian Black and White
Western Finncattle
Eastern Finncattle

NordMilk is a project where a network of research groups from the Nordic countries was established, with the aim of generating and coordinating activities on characterising milk from native dairy cattle breeds. NordGen acted as a secretariat for the network. The network was funded by the Nordic Joint Committee for Agricultural and Food Research (NKJ) in 2016-2017. Participating universities include:

Aarhus University
University of Copenhagen
Natural Resources Institute Finland
University of Iceland
Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Lund University
Estonian University of Life Sciences
Kaunas University of Technology