Preliminary studies on the fatty acid composition of buffalo milk

The production of environmentally friendly and healthy buffalo milk and dairy products has been a lasting trend in recent years, due to consumers' increasingly demanding consumption of quality and safe food. A study was carried out on the physicochemical and fatty acid composition of buffalo milk from Bulgarian Mura breed during the winter season of two farms. The milk yield in the study groups of animals decreased from November to January. The fat content of the Makak farm group decreased from 7.82 to 6.81%, while that of the Tsar Kaloyan farm group decreased from 7.51% on November to 7.22% on December and again increased on January to 7.71%, while the protein content of the milk did not change significantly and was relatively constant in both groups of animals. High statistical significance was found in the analyzed milk from two groups of buffaloes from Bulgarian mura breed on December (P <= 0.001) with respect to the indicators of solids non-fat residue and total solids. The saturated fatty acids in milk obtained from the Makak farm decreased during the study period from 75.08 to 68.54 g / 100 g fat, while monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids increased respectively from 25.68 to 30.62 g / 100 g fat and from 2.52 to 2.74 g / 100 g fat. The content of biologically active omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids is relatively constant, while the amount of CLA increases from 0.27 to 0.40 g / 100 g fat. The saturated fatty acids in milk obtained from Tsar Kaloyan farm during the November and December are stable and increase on January to 71.80 g / 100 g fat. Monounsaturated fatty acids increase in December to 28.13 and decrease to 24.98 g / 100 g fat in January. Polyunsaturated fatty acids decrease from 3.74 on December to 2.84 g / 100 g on January. The content of biologically active omega-6 fatty acids is relatively constant, while the amount of omega-3 fatty acids decreases on December and increases on January. The CLA in the analyses buffalo milk significantly decreased (P <= 0.01) from 1.03 on December to 0.63 g / 100 g fat on January.