Effect of animal origin and farm altitude on some physicochemical properties and minerals of milk samples

Abstract The physicochemical properties of milk depend on many factors, including the animal origin, animal health status, size, age, and nutrition, genetics, and environmental factors. This study investigated the effect of animal origin and altitude on some physicochemical properties of milk. The studied parameters were the pH, conductivity, moisture and ash percentages, total dissolved solids (TDS), specific gravity, sodium, potassium, and calcium. The animals from where the milk samples were collected were camels (8), goats (5) and sheep (6) and from two altitudes; 14 and 2110 meters above sea level. Standard methods were used to determine the physicochemical properties of milk samples while the flame photometer technique was used for the determination of the studied mineral concentrations. At the low altitude the conductivity was significantly different between the milks of the three ruminants and the moisture, TDS, specific gravity and calcium were significantly different between the camel and sheep milks. With regard to the animals living at the high altitude, the moisture, TDS, specific gravity and the ash were significantly different between the camel and sheep milks and between the sheep and goat milks while the minerals were insignificantly different between the three milk samples. Concerning the effect of altitude on each milk, it significantly affected the pH, conductivity, ash percentage, and potassium in the camel milk samples, while it significantly affected the conductivity, specific gravity, ash percentage and the calcium in goat milks whereas it significantly affected the ash percentage in the sheep milk samples. The animal origin and the altitude have significant effects on the majority of the studied parameters.