Milk production variations between rear and fore udder-halves in Barela dromedary camel

Abstract

A number of twenty Barela camels were selected from herds present in Thal desert to study the variations from fore and rear part of the udder. The she-camels of 35 parity numbers in early to mid-stage lactation (1–12 months) were selected. All animals were milked twice daily on equal time intervals. The animals were allowed grazing/browsing daily for 10 hr while supplemented with gram straw when back to home. Twice watering was done. The fore and rear half measurements of udder include teat length, width, distance between teats, udder depth and side-wise distance. Regarding results the depth of rear quarters (cm) was found to be 29.36 ± 2.85 (P < 0.05) deep than fore quarters (25.85 ± 2.98). Teat length, width and distance between fore and rear teats were found significantly different (P < 0.05) while side-wise distance between teats (right & left) was found non-significant. The rear teats were found to be longer and thicker than the fore teats. The data regarding milk production and composition showed that rear-half produced significantly as 56.5% of total milk production and the fore-half 43.5%. The rear quarters produced more milk (P < 0.05) as 4.22 ± 0.85 than 3.27 ± 0.73 kg in fore quarters. The rear quarter milk was richer in fats, proteins and total solids percentage as 2.44 ± 0.22, 2.16 ± 0.26 and 2.16 ± 0.26 than 1.92 ± 0.26, 1.53 ± 0.22 and 6.02 ± 0.24 respectively in fore quarters. The fore quarter scored higher (P < 0.05) in lactose percentage as 2.83 ± 0.42 than 2.13 ± 0.31% in rear quarter. The nutrients from rear quarter milk were greater than fore quarter milk. The results could be used for future recommendations about calf feeding programs of camel husbandry in Pakistan.