Amino Acid and Fatty Acid Profile of the Mare's Milk Produced on Suusamyr Pastures of the Kyrgyz Republic During Lactation Period

Abstract

The high nutritional and health-promoting properties of kymyz, a traditional drink of nomads produced from mare's milk, are well-known and reported in literature. The composition of mare's milk is significantly different from that of cow and other ruminants. Fatty acid composition and amino acid profile of mare's milk produced at Suusamyr pastures of Kyrgyzstan were studied during four lactation months (May, June, July and August). The amino acid composition was determined by precolumn derivatization with diethyl ethoxymethylenemalonate (DEEMM) in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and 18 amino acids were determined in mare's milk. Most abundant amino acids were glutamic acid (16.8-21.2%), leucine (8.2-10.1%), lysine (8.9-10.1%) and ornithine (0.1-0.7%) was in a small amount. The percentages of essential AA in protein of mare milk were 46%, 46%, 51%, 48% for May, June, July and August months respectively, which demonstrate the high biological value of milk during all milking season. The fatty acid contents of the milk fat were determined in the form of fatty acid methyl esters by gas chromatograph after methylation with potassium hydroxide in methanol. The concentrations of capric (10:0), lauric (12:0) and myristic acid (14:0) were similar during four lactation months and the concentration of linoleic acid (18:2) was higher in July month. The results of the study have shown that the highest contents of the nutritive compounds were found in the mare's milk obtained in July.