PHYSICO-CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL HARACTERISTICS OF CAMEL MILK

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Dairy Department, National Research Centre, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

The present study was carried out to investigate some of the physical and principal chemical components of milk from the camel (Camelus dromedarius). A wide variation was observed in the components of raw camel milk. The average contents of physical parameters were 6.70 for pH, 0.19 % acidity, 1.029specific gravity. The chemical components were 11.30 % total solids, 4.40 % fat, 8.12 % solids not fat, 2.91 % protein, 3.18 % lactose and 0.90 % ash.
The highest level of glutamic acid was detected in camel milk, while it had a lower ratio of lysine than that of cow milk. There were noticeably higher levels of proline, aspartic, therionine, valine and leucine, respectively, while a lower values of cystine and methionine in camel milk.
Gas liquid chromatography analysis of camel milk fat indicated that the short chain-fatty acids (C4-C12) were present in very low percentages, while the concentration of long chain-fatty acids were high such as saturated fatty acids (C14, C16 and C18) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (mainly C18:1). Also, the fatty acids in camel milk showed a higher degree of unsaturation, with especially relative high quantities of the essential fatty acids like linolenic (C18:3) and linoleic (C18:2) acids.

Keywords

Journal of Food and Dairy Sciences
Volume 34, Issue 4
April 2009
Pages 2981-2996

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