Characterization of cisternal, alveolar, and residual milk fractions in dromedary (Camelus dromedarius) and Bactrian camels (Camelus bactrianus).

Among dairy species, camels exhibit particularly difficult milk let-down, often resulting in incomplete removal of milk from the udder of lactating females, thus impacting camel milk composition. This study focuses on the characterization of udder size and milk fractions in Bactrian camels (Camelus bactrianus) and dromedaries (Aruana breed) (Camelus dromedarius) from Kazakhstan, as well as on the composition of these fractions in both species. The experiment was realized by using Atosiban (CAS 90779-69-4) and then oxytocin (RK-LS-5№022381) according to protocol for the milking to extract different milk fractions: cisternal, alveolar and residual. The udder length for all camel population varied between 19 and 30 cm (25.5 ± 2.7 cm), and teat length ranged from 1.1 to 3.0 cm (2.26 ± 0.15 cm). Dromedary camels had significant longer teats (Table 1), correlated to higher milk yield (r = 0.682; p < 0.001). The volume of cisternal milk is quite low in both species with a range of 2.40 -14.71% in Bactrian and 0.74-5.25% in dromedary. On average, the proportions of cisternal milk differ significantly between the two species while there was no difference for the two other fractions. The proportion of alveolar milk is positively correlated to milk yield (r = 0.607; p < 0.005) while the proportion of cisternal milk is negatively correlated (r=-0.610; p < 0.005). On average, alveolar milk contained two times more fat and residual milk almost three times in both species. Like for fat, alveilar milk is significantly higher in vitamins in both species. On average, Bactrian milk contained more vitamin C but the difference between species was not significant. This study provides the first data on milk fractions and their composition for Bactrian camel milk and highlights the limited cisternal capacity of dairy camels and its implications for milking efficiency.