A study on fatty acid profiling of sirohi goat and malpura sheep milk

The objective of the study was to identify and quantify the fatty acids (n=32) in Sirohi goats and Malpura sheep milk. The average saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) were 71.07±1.57, 24.70±0.82 and 4.23±0.20 g/100 g of fat in goat milk and 71.08±1.56, 24.37±0.62 and 4.55±0.16 g/100 g of fat in sheep milk respectively. The three fatty acids viz., caproic acid (C6:0), capric acid (C10:0) and methyl undecanoate (C11:0) were significantly (P<0.05) higher in sheep milk, whereas methyl laurate (C12:0), methyl tridecanoate (C13:0) and methyl stearate (C18:0) were significantly (P<0.05) higher in goat milk. There was no significant difference for other fatty acids between goat and sheep. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that Sirohi goats and Malpura sheep have distinct patterns of fatty acid profile. In conclusion, goats and sheep have species-specific pattern of fatty acid. Such differences among the species milk may be useful for developing species-specific dairy products to enhance their commercial value.