Yield and Composition Variations of the Milk from Different Camel Breeds in Saudi Arabia

With the increasing interest in the identification of differences between camel breeds over the last decade, this study was conducted to estimate the variability of milk production and composition of four Saudi camel breeds during different seasons. Milk records were taken two days per week from females of Majahem, Safra, Wadha, and Hamra breeds distributed over Saudi Arabia. The milk yield during winter indicated that the weekly average of the Wadha breed was significantly lower (27.13 kg/week) than Majahem and Hamra breeds. The Safra breed had the lowest milk yield (30.7 kg/week) during summer. During winter, the Hamra breed had a lower content of all analyzed milk components except proteins and was characterized by a lower pH than the milk of the other breeds. However, the Hamra breed had significantly higher contents of milk fat and lactose than the other breeds during summer, with the corresponding values of 3.87 and 4.86%, respectively. Milk collected during winter from Majahem, Safra, and Wadha breeds was characterized by a significant increase in all milk components and milk pH. Finally, the isoelectric focusing analysis revealed noticeable variability of casein purified from camel milk within the different Saudi breeds, with the highest significant value of 2.29 g per 100 mL recorded for the Wadha breed.