FATTY ACID PROFILE OF MURRAH BUFFALO MILK FAT

Abstract

Milk fatty acid composition of Murrah buffaloes was determined in present study. Samples were collected from 10 lactating buffaloes and were analysed for fatty acid profile using AOCS official method. Murrah milk fat was having 71.6% saturated fatty acids (SFA), 27.97% unsaturated fatty acids. C16:0, C18:1c, C18:0, C14:0 and C12:0 were the five most abundant fatty acid (82.5% of total fatty acids) in the Murrah milk. Palmitic acid, myristic acid (14:0) and stearic acid (18:0) together constituted approximately 85.8% of saturated fatty acids by weight. Short chain fatty acids (C4:0, C6:0), medium chain fatty acids (C8:0, C10:0, C12:0), and long chain fatty acids (C16:0, C18:0, C16:1, C18:2) were 1.82, 4.56 and 49.96 g/100 g respectively. Mono-unsaturated fatty acid were 26.79% of the fatty acids in milk, mostly oleic acid (18:1). Poly-unsaturated fatty acids constitute about 1.18% by weight of the total fatty acids. Linoleic acid (18:2) and α-linolenic acid (18:3) accounted for 0.88 and 0.30% by weight of the total fatty acids.