A comparison of milk protein, fat, lactose, total solids and amino acid profiles of three different buffalo breeds in Guangxi, China

Abstract

This study compared the milk protein, fat, lactose, total solids and amino acids (AA) profiles of Murrah buffalo, Nili-Ravi buffalo and crossbreed buffalo. Buffalo milk samples of Murrah (n = 25), Nili-Ravi (n = 20) and Triple-crossbred (n = 23) were collected and milk protein, fat, lactose, total solids and 17 AA profiles were determined. Milk protein and total solids contents of Murrah buffalo were higher than those of Nili-Ravi buffalo (p < .05). The average milk protein, fat, lactose and total solids contents of all buffalo samples were 4.76, 7.31, 5.19 and 18.40 g/100 g of milk, respectively. The AA composition of all three kinds of milk samples was rich in glutamic acid (0.89–0.96 g/100 g of milk) and poor in cysteine (0.01–0.02 g/100 g of milk). Leucine, lysine, valine and isoleucine were the most prevalent essential amino acids; while glutamic acid, proline, aspartic acid and serine were the most prevalent non-essential amino acids in the three kinds of milk samples. Significant differences (p < .05) were observed for concentrations of Lys, Ile, Leu, Phe, Cys and His, while the other 11 amino acids had no significant differences (p > .05). Conclusively, the milk of Murrah buffalo, Nili-Ravi buffalo and crossbreed buffalo was all rich in glutamic acid while poor in cysteine contents. After crossbreeding, the milk production of Triple-crossbred buffalo was higher than the local Chinese buffalo and its milk composition was in between those of Murrah and Nili-Ravi.