pumpkin (cucurbita maxima d.) silage as a feed that improves nutritional properties of cow’s milk

The study was performed with 40 simmental cows divided into four groups (treatments). the group i received diet with grass silage, maize silage, and concentrate. group ii was fed similar as group i plus 400 mg d^-1 cow-1 of β-carotene. in group iii, 40% maize silage dm was replaced with pumpkin silage to ensure a 400 mg higher β-carotene intake compared to the group i. in group iv, 60% of maize silage dm was replaced with pumpkin silage without balancing β-carotene. milk samples were collected at 4 and 8 weeks of experiment. the milk was analyzed for the basic composition, carotenoids, total antioxidant status (tas), and composition of fatty acids. in both measurements, the highest content of α-carotene, β-carotene, lutein, violaxanthin were in the milk of group iv, and the lowest in group i. in the milk groups iii and iv, higher content of pufa, including n-3 pufa, was found in successive samplings. in all samplings, milk tas in group i was significantly lower compared to groups iii and iv.