Variations in protein and fat contents and their fractions in milk from two species fed different forages

This study aimed at determining the variations in milk constituents which could be varied by feed and animal species. To achieve this goal, two groups of homoparity Baladi cows and Egyptian buffaloes (n = 20 per species) were used. Each group was divided into two subgroups (n = 10): subgroup I received legume forage (Egyptian clover) and subgroup II received grass forage (sorghum forage). All experimental animals were fed the diet consisting of concentrate, forage and rice straw as 50, 25 and 25% of dry matter intake respectively. Milk samples were taken for analysis. The trial lasted until the 3rd month of parturition. The main results indicated that lactating cattle fed legume forage significantly (p ≤ 0.01) had more content of casein nitrogen (513 mg/100 ml milk), lower content of glutamic acid (23.56 g/100 g milk protein) and more content of cis-9, trans-11 18:2 conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) (0.77 g/100 g milk fat) compared with 433, 26.67 and 0.53, respectively, for cattle fed grass forage. With regard to the species effect, results showed that buffalo milk appeared to contain significantly higher (p ≤ 0.01) contents of casein nitrogen, phenylalanine, glutamic and arachidonic acid compared with cow's milk. However, the latter was significantly (p ≤ 0.01) more in the cis-9, trans-11CLA (0.59 g/100 g milk fat) than that in buffalo milk (0.47 g/100 g milk fat). The results revealed that not only forage type played a critical role in determining the variations of milk nitrogen distribution, milk amino acids and fatty acids but also animal species had a significant effect on these parameters.