Short communication: Fatty acid profile of yak milk from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in different seasons and for different parities

Yaks are the most important grazing livestock for milk production on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau because these animals are adapted to the high elevations and extremes of cold and can graze throughout the year. In the present study, 30 yaks were selected and the fatty acid (FA) profile of yak milk at...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of dairy science 2011-04, Vol.94 (4), p.1724-1731
Main Authors: Liu, H.N., Ren, F.Z., Jiang, L., Ma, Z.L., Qiao, H.J., Zeng, S.S., Gan, B.Z., Guo, H.Y.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal productions
Biological and medical sciences
cold
fatty acid
fatty acid composition
Food industries
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
gas chromatography
grazing
milk
Milk and cheese industries. Ice creams
milk fat
milk production
parity
polyunsaturated fatty acids
season
summer
Terrestrial animal productions
Vertebrates
winter
yak milk
yaks
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Summary:Yaks are the most important grazing livestock for milk production on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau because these animals are adapted to the high elevations and extremes of cold and can graze throughout the year. In the present study, 30 yaks were selected and the fatty acid (FA) profile of yak milk at different seasons and parities was investigated using gas chromatography. The concentrations of cis-9 C18:1, cis-11 C18:1, cis-9,trans-11 C18:2, and C18:3 n-3 in yak milk were higher in summer (25.26, 1.50, 1.46, and 0.33g/100g of total FA, respectively) than in winter (22.17, 0.77, 1.27, and 0.28g/100g of total FA, respectively). The contents of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated FA in milk fat of multiparous (parities 2 to 5) yaks (31.61 and 4.20g/100g of total FA, respectively) were higher than those in primiparous yaks (29.61 and 3.80g/100g of total FA, respectively). These results suggest (1) that the potential exists to improve the FA composition of yak milk by developing local supplement resources during the winter and (2) that multiparous yaks have a more favorable FA profile than primiparous yaks.
ISSN:0022-0302
1525-3198
DOI:10.3168/jds.2010-3749