## 3 Results and Discussion
### Milk and Yoghurt Proximate Composition
There are no studies to our knowledge, on the parameters affecting the FPD of ovine milk. However, in the present study, the difference in FPD between the Control and treated samples is attributed to the diet. [PERSON] et al. [62] highlighted several factors that can influence the freezing point of cow's milk and that are related to the animal feeding, such as diets high in seeds instead of pasture or hay, insufficient roughage, a high protein-to-saturated fat ratio in stalling, and low levels of digestible sugars or energy. With regard to milk acidity, both active (pH) and tittatable, there were no statistically significant (\(p>0.05\)) differences between the treatments. Milk pH was within the reported range (6.51-6.81), but tittatable acid was far below the reported range (0.22-0.25% lactic acid) for all treatments [63]. Additionally, milk pH was within the range (6.41-6.79) reported by [PERSON] et al. [60] in all treatment groups. Milk pH and acidity are widely used as indirect indicators of microbiological quality [61]. Bacterial growth in milk typically involves lactose fermentation, leading to lactic acid production, increased acidity, and a reduction in pH. However, since the milk was sourced from morning milking, stored and transported under refrigerated conditions, and analysed within a few hours after milking, significant bacterial growth and the associated changes in acidity and pH were unlikely to occur. The electrical conductivity and refractive index values observed were higher than those reported in the review by [PERSON] et al. [63] (electrical conductivity: 3.8 mS/cm; refractive index: 1.3492-1.3497) and in the study by [PERSON] et al. [64], which analysed samples from individual animals (electrical conductivity: 4 mS/cm). By contrast, the Brix values were comparable to those reported by [PERSON] et al. [64], specifically 13.8. Electrical conductivity serves as a quick method for detecting subclinical mastitis in individual animals [65], while the refractive index and Brix value are used to measure total solids in milk [66]. Evaluating the physicochemical properties of milk provides a fast and practical approach for assessing its chemical composition and monitoring animal health at the farm level [64; 67]. Yoghurt proximate composition is shown in Table 5. There were highly significant differences (\(p<0.01\)) in the moisture and total solids content, while there were significant differences (\(p<0.05\)) in the other examined parameters, i.e., ash, protein, and fat content. By contrast, no significant differences (\(p>0.05\)) were detected in carbohydrate and solids-not-fat (SnF) content across the treatments. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Treatment**} \\ \cline{2-6}
**Component (\%)** & **Control** & **UOP** & **POP** & **SEM** & **Significance** \\  & **(n = 4)** & **(n = 4)** & **(n = 4)** & & \\ \hline Moisture & 83.39 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 82.32 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 82.76 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 0.176 & **\\ Ash & 0.81 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 0.89 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 0.88 \({}^{\text{ab}}\) & 0.020 & * \\ Protein & 5.42 \({}^{\text{ab}}\) & 5.93 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 5.53 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 0.107 & * \\ Fat & 6.06 \({}^{\text{ab}}\) & 6.79 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 6.24 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 0.163 & * \\ Carbohydrate & 4.32 & 4.06 & 4.60 & 0.153 & NS \\ Total solids & 16.61 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 17.68 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 17.24 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 0.176 & ** \\ Solids-not-Fat (SnF) & 10.55 & 10.89 & 11.00 & 0.160 & NS \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} UOP = unprocessed orange peel; POP = processed orange peel; = \(p<0.05\); ** = \(p<0.01\); NS = non-significant; superscripts \(\text{a}\), b differ at \(p<0.05\).  
\end{table} 
Table 5: Yoghurt proximate composition. Yoghurt produced from the milk of ewes fed diets containing either unprocessed (UOP) or processed orange peels (POP) had lower moisture content compared to yoghurt from ewes fed the conventional diet (Control). Additionally, ash, protein, and fat content were higher in the yoghurt from ewes on the UOP diet.