A comprehensive comparative analysis of fatty acid profiles and GC-MS based metabolomics in Barbari and Beetal goat...

This study investigated breed-specific compositional and metabolic differences in milk from Barbari (BaGM) and Beetal (BeGM) goats, two prominent Indian breeds. Physicochemical analysis revealed no significant differences (p > 0.05) in pH, acidity, fat, protein, or total solids, although BaGM had higher solids-not-fat, and BeGM exhibited higher ash content (p > 0.05). FTIR spectroscopy showed minimal spectral variations. Fatty acid profiling by GC-FID indicated significantly higher caproic (C10:0) and myristic (C14:0) acids in BaGM (p < 0.05), while BeGM had elevated stearic (C18:0) and arachidonic acid (C20:0) (p < 0.05). GC-MS based untargeted metabolomics identified 123 metabolites in BaGM and 99 in BeGM. Multivariate analyses (PCA, OPLS-DA, fold change) demonstrated distinct metabolic clustering and differential metabolites (DEMs) between the breeds. BaGM exhibited higher levels of myo-inositol, octane, decane, adonitol, propanedioic acid and monopalimitin whereas BeGM demonstrated higher content of arabinopyranose, oxalic acid, fumaric acid, cellobiose, mannopyranose and lactic acid. Correlation network established the associations among DEMs. In silico pathway enrichment analysis highlighted enrichment in biosynthesis of amino acids (BeGM) and galactose and pyruvate metabolism (BaGM). Metabolite-gene interaction analysis, coupled with functional annotation and KEGG pathway analysis, elucidated the probable mechanisms by which DEMs are regulated by specific genes. This study highlights breed-specific differences in the metabolite profiles and compositional attributes of Barbari and Beetal goat milk, which could be exploited to formulate specific functional food products tailored to meet consumer health needs and optimize processing in the dairy industry.