Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Feb 17;11(2):516.
doi: 10.3390/ani11020516.

Milk Composition of Free-Ranging Impala (Aepyceros melampus) and Tsessebe (Damaliscus lunatus lunatus), and Comparison with Other African Bovidae

Gernot Osthoff  1 , Arnold Hugo  1 , Moses Madende  1 , Lauren Schmidt  1 , Sibusiso Kobeni  1 , Francois Deacon  2
Affiliations

Milk Composition of Free-Ranging Impala (Aepyceros melampus) and Tsessebe (Damaliscus lunatus lunatus), and Comparison with Other African Bovidae

Gernot Osthoff et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

The major nutrient and fatty acid composition of the milk of impala and tsessebe is reported and compared with other Bovidae and species. The proximate composition of impala milk was 5.56 ± 1.96% fat, 6.60 ± 0.51% protein, and 4.36 ± 0.94% lactose, and that of tsessebe milk was 8.44 ± 3.19%, 5.15 ± 0.49%, and 6.10 ± 3.85%, respectively. The high protein content of impala milk accounted for 42% of gross energy, which is typical for African Bovids that use a "hider" postnatal care system, compared to the 25% of the tsessebe, a "follower". Electrophoresis showed that the molecular size and surface charge of the tsessebe caseins resembled that of other Alcelaphinae members, while that of the impala resembled that of Hippotraginae. The milk composition of these two species was compared by statistical methods with 13 other species representing eight suborders, families, or subfamilies of African Artiodactyla. This showed that the tsessebe milk resembled that of four other species of the Alcelaphinae sub-family and that the milk of this sub-family differs from other Artiodactyla by its specific margins of nutrient contents and milk fat with a high content of medium-length fatty acids (C8-C12) above 17% of the total fatty acids.

Keywords: Artiodactyla; fatty acid; impala; lactose; milk; oligosaccharide; protein; tsessebe.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Electrophoretograms of milk from impala (lanes 1 and 2), cow (lane 3), sheep (lane 4), and tsessebe (lanes 5–7).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Dendrogram of 15 Ruminantia species with regard to milk content of protein, non-protein nitrogen, lactose, oligosaccharides, fat, and fatty acids.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Jennes R., Patton S. Principles of Dairy Chemistry. Wiley & Son; New York, NY, USA: 1976.
    1. Oftedal O.T. Milk composition, milk yield and energy output at peak lactation: A comparative review. Symp. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1984;51:33–85.
    1. Casoli C., Duranti E., Morbidini L., Panella F., Vizioli V. Quantitative and compositional variations of Massesse sheep milk by parity and stage of lactation. Small Rumin. Res. 1989;2:47–62. doi: 10.1016/0921-4488(89)90016-3. - DOI
    1. Voutsinas L., Pappas C., Katsiari M. The composition of Alpine goats’ milk during lactation in Greece. J. Dairy Res. 1990;57:41–51. doi: 10.1017/S0022029900026595. - DOI
    1. Holand Ø., Gjøstein H., Nieminen M. Reindeer Milk. In: Park Y.W., Haenlein G.F.W., editors. Handbook of Milk of Non-Bovine Mammals. Blackwell; London, UK: 2006. pp. 355–370.

LinkOut - more resources