The production of typical cured meats from cattle of Cinisara breed

In recent years consumers prefer genuine, tasty, protein-rich, low in fat and cholesterol products. The Cinisara cow is a dairy Sicilian autochthonous breed, reared in the western part of the isle according to the traditional livestock system, based on grazing natural pastures. The meat of Cinisara cattle could be used to obtain also processed products, among which salami and bresaola, as commercial alternatives to fresh meat, in order to increase the economic profitability of farms. The aim of this research was to produce bresaola and salami with meat from adult cows (AC) and grazing (GB) or housed (HB) young bulls of Cinisara breed, evaluating their physico-chemical and sensory traits. In…

Copy number variation and missense mutations of the agouti signaling protein (ASIP) gene in goat breeds with different coat colors.

In goats, classical genetic studies reported a large number of alleles at the Agouti locus with effects on coat color and pattern distribution. From these early studies, the dominant A(Wt) (white/tan) allele was suggested to cause the white color of the Saanen breed. Here, we sequenced the coding region of the goat ASIP gene in 6 goat breeds (Girgentana, Maltese, Derivata di Siria, Murciano-Granadina, Camosciata delle Alpi, and Saanen), with different coat colors and patterns. Five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified, 3 of which caused missense mutations in conserved positions of the cysteine-rich carboxy-terminal domain of the protein (p.Ala96Gly, p.Cys126Gly, and p.Val1…

Development of new dairy products using raw ewe’s milk to produce a “Swiss” type cheese

High-density SNP markers elucidate the genetic divergence and population structure of Noticiana sheep breed in the Mediterranean context

Among livestock species, sheep have played an early major role in the Mediterranean area. Italy has a long history of sheep breeding and, despite a dramatic contraction in numbers, still raise several local populations that may represent a unique source of genetic diversity. The Noticiana is a breed of the south-eastern part of Sicily appreciated both for its dairy products and for its resistance to harsh environment. In this study, the high-density Illumina Ovine SNP600K BeadChip array was used for the first genome-wide characterization of 48 individuals of Noticiana sheep to investigate its diversity, the genome structure and the relationship within the context of worldwide and Italian br…

Metodo per la tracciabilità/autenticazione di prodotti lattiero-caseari mono-razza

Il brevetto consiste in un metodo per l’autenticazione e la tracciabilità genetica delle produzioni lattiero-casearie mono-razza su base molecolare con approccio statistico-probabilistico. Il metodo si basa sull’impiego di tecniche di analisi ad elevata processività (in particolare SNPs genotyping su Bead Chip Illumina) su pool di DNA e sull’applicazione di metodi computazionali innovativi. Il metodo è già stato validato su produzioni lattiero-casearie ovine quali la Vastedda della Valle del Belice (DOP), sia su prodotti lattiero caseari a DOP ottenuti in laboratorio, che su prodotti a DOP reperibili sul mercato. Il metodo può comunque essere esteso, su richiesta, a qualsiasi altro prodotto…