This study aimed to investigate the impact of management system and lactation stage on camel milk fatty acid (FA) composition, with emphasis on odd and branched-chain FA (OBCFA), conjugated linoleic acids (CLA), and trans-FA (TFA). Milk samples were collected from thirteen camels managed under intensive and semi-intensive systems at early, mid, and late lactation. Our results provided for the first time the OBCFA profile in camel milk. Eleven OBCFA were identified with a predominance of C15:0, anteiso-C15:0, anteiso-C17:0, and C17:0. The vaccenic acid (VA) was the predominant TFA; other isomers appeared in smaller amounts. The Δ9-desaturase activity measured as desaturation index of C14:0 was relatively high in the mammary gland of camel. Milk from the semi-intensive system was characterized by a higher nutritional value, due to the higher contents of total CLA, rumenic acid (RA), VA, linoleic, α-linolenic, and polyunsaturated FA compared with milk from the intensive system. Few differences were found in the OBCFA profile throughout lactation. Our study provided deeper information on FA composition, showing that camel milk is a good source of OBCFA, RA and VA. These results have to be taken into account in the investigation of the functional properties of camel milk fat as well as in the ongoing intensification of camel farming systems.

The authors would like to express their gratitude to the Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the University of Gabès for providing a scholarship fund to the corresponding author. This work was supported by the Arid Lands Institute, Medenine, Tunisia; Institution of Agriculture Research and High Education, Tunisia; Ministry of Higher Education and Research, Tunisia; and the Institute of Food Science Research, Madrid, Spain.

Peer reviewed