Effect of season and stage of lactation on milk components in Purnathadi buffaloes

The present study was designed to observe the effect of season and stage of lactation on milk components of Purnathadi buffaloes. Total 346 milk samples were collected, from three different seasons (winter, summer and rainy) and stage of lactation (early, mid and late) for the study. Overall milk fat, protein, lactose, solid not fat (SNF) and total solids (TS) were observed as 8.44±0.07, 3.99±0.02, 3.96±0.02, 8.78±0.04, and 17.23±0.08% respectively. There was significantly higher fat and total solids percent during winter (9.01±0.23 and 17.62±0.26% respectively) and lower during summer (8.25±0.14 and 16.73±0.14% respectively) season, but milk SNF percent was significantly higher during rainy (9.00±0.04%) and lower during summer (8.48±0.05%). Stage of lactation had also significant effect on milk components; milk fat, protein, SNF, and TS percent increased significantly with the advancement of lactation stage, whereas milk lactose was nonsignificant. Milk fat during early, mid and late lactation was 7.43±0.10, 8.40±0.07 and 8.79±0.12%; protein was 3.83±0.06, 3.94±0.02 and 4.06±0.02%; SNF was 8.36±0.14, 8.70±0.04 and 8.96±0.05% and TS was 15.61±0.17, 17.10±0.08 and 17.75±0.12%, respectively. Thus, results of the present investigation indicated that season and stage of lactation affect certain milk components in Purnathadi buffaloes and could be minimized by better farm management practices.