# Development of \"Quadrello di Ovino\", a Novel Fresh Ewe's Cheese
## 3 Results
### Cheese Fatty Acids Composition  
FAs composition of the experimental cheeses is shown in Table 4. Saturated fatty acids (SFAs) were consistently present in Qdo Chees (66.6 and 63.8 g/100 g for Qdo-P1 and Qdo-P2, respectively); among these, palmitic acid (C16:0; 24.9 and 25.7 for Qdo-P1 and Qdo-P2, respectively) showed a higher concentration followed by stearic acid (C18:0; 9.81 and 10.5 for Qdo-P1 and Qdo-P2, respectively) and myristic acid (C14:0; 11.0 and 10.6 for Qdo-P1 and Qdo-P2, respectively). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Parameters**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Samples**} \\ \cline{2-3}  & **Qdo-P1** & **Qdo-P2** \\ \hline Lightness (L*) & 88.32 \(\pm\) 0.30 a & 86.30 \(\pm\) 0.63 b  \\ Redness (a*) & \(-\)3.81 \(\pm\) 0.28 a & \(-\)4.76 \(\pm\) 0.24 b \\ Yellowness (b*) & 15.18 \(\pm\) 0.69 b & 16.88 \(\pm\) 0.08 a \\ Hardness, N/mm2 & 0.18 \(\pm\) 0.02 b & 0.26 \(\pm\) 0.03 a \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} Results indicate mean values \(\pm\) S.D. of nine determination (carried out in triplicate for three inde-pendent productions). Data within a line followed by the same letter are not significantly different according to Duncan test. Abbreviation: Qdo-P1, Quadrello di ovino cheese produced with starter culture SF1 (starter formulation CR/A); Qdo-P2, Quadrello di ovino cheese produced with starter culture SF2 (starter formulation LYOBAC-D CRM).  
\end{table} 
Table 2: Physical parameters of Quadrello di ovino cheeses. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Parameters**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Samples**} \\ \cline{2-3}  & **Qdo-P1** & **Qdo-P2** \\ \hline Dry matter (DM), \% & 63.17 \(\pm\) 1.47 a [FOOTNOTE:a]Footnote a: Results indicate mean values \(\pm\) S.D. of nine determination (carried out in triplicate for three independent productions). Data within a line followed by the same letter are not significantly different according to Duncan test. Abbreviation: Qdo-P1, Quadrello di ovino cheese produced with starter culture SF1 (starter formulation CR/A); Qdo-P2, Quadrello di ovino cheese produced with starter culture SF2 (starter formulation LYOBAC-D CRM); PL, proteolysis index; POV, peroxide value; TBARs, thiobribriburic acid-reactive substances; MDA, malonylaldehyde.  
\end{table} 
Table 3: Compositional characteristics of Quadrello di ovino cheeses. Among MUFA, oleic acid (OA, C18:1\(\Delta^{c9}\)) was the most representative as fatty acid (17.1 and 20.1 for Qdo-P1 and Qdo-P2, respectively). All cheeses were characterized by a high content of _trans_-vaccenic acid (VA, C18:1\(\Delta^{t11}\), 3.68 and 3.91 for Qdo-P1 and Qdo-P2, respectively) while the _cis_-vaccenic acid (C18:1\(\Delta^{c11}\)) showed a much lower concentration, barely 0.64 and 0.59 for Qdo-P1 and Qdo-P2, respectively. Regarding PUFA, linoleic acid (LA, C18:2\(\Delta^{c9,t12}\)) was the most representative FAs (1.91 and 1.86 for Qdo-P1 and Qdo-P2, respectively). The use of different _S. thermophilus_ strains determined significant differences in FAs composition of Qdo Cheeses. Considering the short-chain (SCFA; C4:0-C8:0) and medium-chain (MCFA; C10:0-C15:0) FAs, Qdo-P1 chees showed significantly higher concentrations than Qdo-P2 cheeses, except for myristoleic acid (C14:1\(\Delta^{c9}\)) which showed no significant differences. Significant differences were also found between long-chain FAs (LCFA; C16:0-C24:0). In particular, palmitic, stearic, oleic, _trans_-vaccenic, \(\gamma\)-linolenic, eicosenoic acid and the other C18:1 isomers, were significantly higher in Qdo-P2 cheeses than in Qdo-P1 chees. An opposite trend was registered for heptadecenoic (C17:1), _cis_-vaccenic (C18:1\(\Delta^{c11}\)), linoleic, \(\alpha\)-linolenic (ALA, C18:3\(\Delta^{c9,t12,c15}\)), eicosadinenoic acid (C20:2\(\Delta^{c11,c14}\)), and the other C18:2 isomers, that were significantly higher in P1. The other identified LCFAs did not show significant differences among cheese productions.