Chemical composition of milk of crossbred goats

Abstract

An investigation was undertaken to study the chemical composition of the milk of Saanen x Malabari and Alpine x Malabari crossbred goats maintained at the All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Goats for Milk, Mannuthy. A total of 471 milk samples collected both from the morning and evening at weekly intervals were analysed for the fat, protein, lactose and ash contents.

The results of the study indicated that there was no significant difference between the two breeds with regard to the fat content of the morning samples of milk, but significant difference was noticed between the fat content of the evening samples and also the total fat content of the milk. In both the crossbreds significant difference could be noticed between the fat contents of the morning and evening samples of milk. No significant difference could be observed between the protein content of the milk of two different crosses but significant difference was noticed between the protein content of morning and evening samples of milk. Between the two crossbreds no significant difference could be noticed in the lactose content of the milk. The lactose content was found to be not influenced by either breed or the time of milking. A similar trend was observed in the ash content of milk also. As lactation advanced there was a tendency for the fat, protein and ash content in milk to increase with a decline in the content of lactose. The average composition of the milk of Alpine x Malabari goats was fat 6.29, protein 4.40, lactose 4.06 and ash 0.776 per cent and that of Saanen x Malabari 5.64, 4.40, 4.06 and 0.782 per cent respectively.