Effect of altering the daily herbage allowance to cows in mid lactation on the composition, ripening and functionality of low-moisture, part-skim Mozzarella cheese

Milk was collected from three spring-calving herds, on different daily herbage allowances (DHA) of perennial rye-grass (16, 20 or 24 kg dry matter (DM)/cow for a 17 week period. On five occasions, at weekly intervals in the middle of the period, the three different milks were converted into low-moisture part-skim Mozzarella cheese. Increasing the DHA resulted in significant increases in the concentrations of protein in the cheesemilk. (P < 0.05) and cheese whey (P < 0.02). The moisture-adjusted cheese yield increased significantly (P < 0.01) on raising the DHA from 16 to 24 kg grass DW/cow. DHA had no significant effects on any of the gross compositional values of the cheese (although moisture and fat-in-DM levels tended to decrease and increase respectively with increasing DHA). The hardness of the uncooked cheese and functionality of cooked cheese (i.e. melt time, flowability, stretch and viscosity) were not significantly influenced by DHA over the 115 d ripening period at 4 degrees C.