## 3 Results and Discussion  
### Physicochemical Characteristics of Cheeses  
The biochemical compositions of the cheeses are summarized in Table 2.  
Concerning the effect of the cheese category, the pH and Aw values were significantly different, with the highest pH value being found for the Salers cheeses. The Salers chees had a slightly higher pH and Aw (5.59; 0.94) compared to the Cantal chee \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l l l l l} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Parameters**} & \multicolumn{2}{l}{**Cheese Category**} & \multicolumn{3}{l}{**Cow Breeds’ Milk**} & \multicolumn{2}{l}{**Category \(\times\)**} \\  & **Cantal** & **Salers** & **Significance** & **OB\_M** & **Salers\_M** & **Significance** & **Significance** \\ \hline
**Dry matter-DM** & \(62.11\pm 0.5\) & \(62.38\pm 0.6\) & NS & \(62.49\pm 0.4\) & \(61.91\pm 0.4\) & NS & NS \\
**Fat (\%)** & \(29.33\pm 1.29\) & \(29.25\pm 1.04\) & NS & \(30.40\ \pm 1.12\) & \(27.73\ \mathrm{b}\pm 1.15\) & *** & NS \\
**Fat in DM (\%)** & \(47.27\pm 2.47\) & \(46.83\pm 3.44\) & NS & \(48.67\pm 1.83\) & \(44.78\pm 2.56\) & *** & NS \\ pH & \(5.50\ \mathrm{b}\) & \(0.11\) & \(5.99\pm 0.12\) & \(\star\) & \(5.54\pm 0.12\) & \(5.56\pm 0.09\) & NS & NS \\ Aw & \(0.91\ \mathrm{b}\) & \(0.02\) & \(0.94\pm 0.01\) & *** & \(0.92\pm 0.03\) & \(0.93\pm 0.02\) & NS & NS \\
**Salt (\%)** & \(2.34\pm 0.15\) & \(2.29\pm 0.24\) & NS & \(2.27\pm 0.14\) & \(2.37\pm 0.26\) & NS & NS \\
**Salt in DM (\%)** & \(3.77\pm 0.28\) & \(3.67\pm 0.50\) & NS & \(3.63\pm 0.32\) & \(3.84\pm 0.49\) & NS & NS \\
**TN** & \(3.97\pm 0.21\) & \(4.12\pm 0.27\) & NS & \(3.97\pm 0.24\) & \(4.15\pm 0.19\) & \(\star\) & NS \\
**WSN/TN (\%)** & \(1.21\pm 0.11\) & \(1.23\pm 0.10\) & NS & \(1.23\pm 0.10\) & \(1.22\pm 0.12\) & NS & NS \\
**WSN/TN (\%)** & \(30.62\pm 286\) & \(30.00\pm 3.02\) & NS & \(31.03\pm 2.92\) & \(29.29\pm 2.68\) & NS & NS \\
**L\text{ }^{\text{(}}\)(Lightness)** & \(78.60\pm 4.13\) & \(73.20\pm 3.00\) & *** & \(76.27\pm 5.14\) & \(75.37\pm 4.20\) & NS & NS \\
**a\text{ }^{\text{(}}\)(redness)** & \(-2.75\ \mathrm{b}\) & \(0.53\) & \(-2.37\pm 0.50\) & \(\star\) & \(-2.56\pm 0.57\) & \(-2.56\pm 0.51\) & NS & NS \\
**b\text{ }^{\text{(}}\)(yellowness)** & \(25.81\ \mathrm{b}\) & \(1.50\) & \(27.83\ \pm 2.35\) & *** & \(27.35\ \pm 2.28\) & \(26.07\ \mathrm{b}\pm 1.94\) & *** & *** \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} Data are shown as means and standard deviation (\(n=3\)). Means within row with differing superscripts differ (\(p<0.05\)). NS = non significant \(\star\) \(p<0.05\); **\(p<0.01\); *** \(p<0.001\). \(p<0.001\). \(p\)-values are shown in Table S1. (Red color was added to significance when presenting no significant interaction between cheese category and cow breed). (Aw = water activity; TN = Total Nitrogen; WSN = Water-Soluble Nitrogen; WSN/TN = Ratio of Water-Soluble Nitrogen to Total Nitrogen; OB\_M = Other Crow breeds’ Milk; Salers\_M = _Salers_ Milk).  
\end{table} 
Table 2: Biochemical characteristics for each cheese category and cow breeds used to produce cheeses. respectively. Similar results were found for Salers and Cantal cheeses in previous studies [11; 13]. The Salers cheeses were less light (L) with a value of 73.20 and had a higher yellowness index (27.83) compared to the Cantal cheeses. In contrast, Salers cheeses had a higher redness index (\(-\)2.37) compared to Cantal cheeses. As described by [PERSON] et al. (2006) [24], the yellow color of cheeses can be related to the carotenoids concentration in fat. No significant differences were detected between cheese categories for the other physicochemical parameters (dry matter, fat, fat in DM, salt, salt in DM, TN and WSN/TN). Regarding the cow's breed provenance of the milk, the fat content and fat in dry matter (FDM) presented the lowest values (27.73 and 44.78, respectively) for the cheeses made with milk from _Salers_ cows (Salers_M) compared to cheeses made with milk from other cow breeds (OB_Milk) (30.40 and 48.67, respectively).