Protein polymorphisms and quanti-qualitative characteristics of milk from Italian Friesian and Brown cows. II. Milk aptitude to cheese making.

The research was carried out on 382 bovine cows, 166 belonging to the Italian Friesian breed and 216 to the Brown Swiss breed, from 71 herds (33 from Campobasso province and 38 from Isernia). The herda were classified taking into account the presence or absence of irrigation and some breeding techniques such as housing system, milking and feeding type. The cows were grouped according to the calving order. During lactation, momthly controls were performed in order to measure the milk yield and to collect samples on which chemical composition, pH, somatic cell count and lactodynamometric characteristics were determined. Casein and whey protein polymorphism of individual milk was studied by isoelectric focusing on a tin layer polyacrylamide gel (PAGIF) and immunoblotting, in order to identify the genetic variants of casein (alpha s1-, beta- and k-casein), alpha lactoalbumin and beta lactoglobulin.