Table 1 Descriptive statistics for milk production, cheese composition and the first principal components characterizing the volatile compound fingerprint of 1075 individual model cheeses analysed by PTR-ToF-MS

Milk yield (kg × day⁻¹)

24.6

32.1

Milk composition

 Fat (%)

4.4

20.5

 Protein (%)

3.8

10.5

 Fat/protein

1.18

21.2

 Casein/protein

0.769

2.34

 SCS (U)

3.03

1.86

Cheese composition

 Fat (%)

38.2

11.5

 Protein (%)

27.1

15.1

Cheese volatile fingerprint

Total phenotypic variance (%)

Cumulative phenotypic variance (%)

 PC1

28.30

28.30

 PC2

10.90

39.20

 PC3

8.59

47.79

 PC4

7.61

55.40

 PC5

6.06

61.46

 PC6

3.74

65.19

 PC7

2.68

67.87

 PC8

2.26

70.14

 PC9

1.85

71.98

 PC10

1.58

73.56