Impact of dietary fenugreek sprouts and β-cyclodextrin on soft goat cheese

This study investigated the combined effects of fenugreek sprout feeding and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) treatment on traditional soft goat cheese. Thirty-nine Hassani goats were divided into: control (C), F15 (15 g fenugreek sprouts dry/head/day), and F30 (30 g/head/day). Milk was processed with or without 0.5% β-CD. Fenugreek supplementation significantly enhanced milk production, F30 showing an approximately 60.6% increase in daily milk yield and improved fat and protein contents compared to C. In the cheese, F30 increased protein by 2.87%, while the addition of 0.5% β-CD (CF30) further increased protein by 5.0%, reduced cholesterol and triglycerides by 33.6 and 49.1%, respectively. Fenugreek supplementation improved the lipid profile, reducing total saturated fatty acids by 8.8% and increasing polyunsaturated fatty acids by 264.7% in F30. Textural analysis during storage showed hardness increasing by up to 343.8% in CF15, while springiness and cohesiveness declined. Microstructural confirmed a more homogeneous protein network in β-CD-treated samples. Sensory evaluation highlighted F15 and CF15 as the most acceptable treatments (scores of 8.8 and 8.2, respectively), whereas F30 and CF30 showed reduced acceptability. These findings demonstrated that moderate fenugreek supplementation (15 g/head/day), with or without β-CD, improved the nutritional quality, lipid profile, and structural characteristics of traditional soft goat cheese.