Milk production performance of the one humped camel ( Camelus dromedarius) under pastoral management in semi-arid eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

The milk production potential of camels ( Camelus dromedarius) was studied with the objective to understand the lactation characteristics of camels in selected pastoral herds, in eastern Ethiopia. The milk was measured from 61 lactating camels once in a week from October 1997 to January 2000. The mean daily milk offtake was 4.14±0.04 kg/day. The daily milk offtake varied according to the number of milkings per day and ranged from 1.26±0.05 kg/day for one time milking to 6.77±0.15 kg/day for four times milking ( P<0.001). The lactation length ranged from 224 to 567 days with a mean of 353±14 days. The mean lactation offtake was 1422±74 kg. Camels in the fourth parity showed the highest mean daily average offtake (4.98±0.10 kg/day) and showed a higher peak than other parities. Among the parities, five had the highest lactation offtake (1694±185 kg), whereas camels in the last parity had the lowest daily and lactation offtake. Camels that calved in the long dry season gave milk for a longer period and had a higher lactation offtake than those that calved in the short rainy season. Camels that calved in the long wet season showed the highest daily peak offtake in between nine and 19 weeks of lactation. During the long wet and short dry seasons, the daily offtake was above the annual mean offtake. Those camels which calf died had a significantly lower ( P<0.01) daily total milk offtake than the camels which calf stayed alive. The daily milk offtake was significantly ( P<0.001) different among households. In this study, the potential of camels as a dairy animal was demonstrated under traditional management, to further elucidate factors affecting the milk offtake capacity, studies under different management and controlled environment were recommended.