The Effect of Parity Number on Chemical Composition of Camel Milk under Open Range System in Nyala area (South Darfur, Sudan)

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the effect of parity number on chemical composition of dromedary camel milk under open range system in Nyala area (South Darfur, Sudan). Milk samples (N=64) were obtained from lactating she camels after parity number one through six (n=9, 20, 19, 4, 5 and 7, respectively). Chemical constituents of milk including fat, Solids Not Fat (SNF), lactose and protein were determined. Significant (p?0.05) variations between different parities were obtained for all measured constituents. Milk fat and SNF contents were more influenced by number of parity compared to protein and lactose. The mean value (mean�SE) of fat content tends to decrease in the next parity. It decreased gradually from 4.90�0.22% in parity number one to 2.21�0.25% in parity number six. Controversy, mean SNF content tends to increase in the next parity. It increased from 8.15�0.10% to 9.51�0.18% in parity number one and six, respectively. Lactose content was slightly increased from 4.59�0.10% to 5.19�0.16% in first and fourth parity, respectively. Then it decreased to 4.77�0.12% in parity number six. Similar profile was obtained for protein content. It increased from 3.58�0.07% in first parity to 3.82�0.10% in parity number four, and then decreased to 3.62�0.085 in parity number six. It could be concluded that number of parity has significant influence on the compositional quality of dromedary camel milk reared under open range system