Assessing the impact of camel breed and their grazing habits on the nutritional profile of milk

Camel milk has numerous nutraceuticals and therapeutical properties due to camel's desert habitat and grazing habits on wild vegetation. The current study aims to evaluate the impact of breed type and grazing habits on variations in nutritional aspects of milk among camel breeds of south Punjab, Pakistan. The samples were collected from local area (Vehari Chowk) of Multan and Bahawalpur (Cholistan dessert). The milk was taken from the twelve camels of four breeds i.e., B1 (Sindhri) and B2 (Malgadhi) from Multan and B3 (Desi) and B4 (Marrechi) from Bahawalpur and pool was prepared by thoroughly mixing. The various parameters of milk, i.e., physicochemical analysis, fatty acids composition, protein contents, amino acid profiling, and mineral concentrations, were evaluated and characterized. Minerals, i.e., Na, K, Zn and Pb in camel milk were found in considerable concentrations such as 405.94 & PLUSMN;0.02, 204.16 & PLUSMN;0.10, 2.45 & PLUSMN; 0.02 and 0.25 & PLUSMN;0.02 ppm accordingly. During physicochemical analysis, pH and protein were present in higher amounts. Casein of camel breeds contains higher amounts of amino acids i.e., Leucine (0.25 & PLUSMN;0.039 %), Lysine (0.12 & PLUSMN;0.019 %), Aspartic acid (0.18 & PLUSMN;0.017 %) and Glutamic acid (0.56 & PLUSMN;0.087 %). Fatty acids were present in significant concentrations in all camel breeds, i.e., Butyric acid (0.760 & PLUSMN;0.012 g/100g), Lauric acid (0.770 & PLUSMN;0.120 g/100g), Myristic acid (12.420 & PLUSMN;1.163 g/100g) and Linoleic acid (2.390 & PLUSMN;0.112 g/100g). Hence, the results concluded that the nutritional value of camel milk was varied due to their different breeds, genetic variations, grazing pattern and environmental conditions, which should be considered before camel milk consumption and utilization for various therapeutical applications.