Short communication: Caseins and α-lactalbumin content of camel milk (Camelus dromedarius) determined by capillary electrophoresis
Huda Mohamed, Monika Johansson, Åse Lundh, P. Nagy, Afaf Kamal‐Eldin
Abstract
Camel milk has unique physical, nutritional, and technological properties when compared with other milks, especially bovine. Because proteins confer many of the properties of milk and its products, this study aimed to determine the proteins of camel milk, their correlations, and relative distribution. Raw milk samples were collected from 103 dromedary camels in the morning and evening. Capillary electrophoresis results showed wide variation in the concentrations (g/L) of proteins between samples as follows: -lactalbumin, 0.3 to 2.9; S1 -casein, 2.4 to 10.3; S2 -casein, 0.3 to 3.9; -casein, 5.5 to 29.0; -casein, 0.1 to 2.4; unknown casein protein 1, 0.0 to 3.4; and unknown casein protein 2, 0.0 to 4.6. The range in percent composition of the 4 caseins were as follows: S1 , 12.7 to 35.3; S2 , 1.8 to 20.8; , 42.3 to 77.4; and , 0.6 to 17.4. The relative proportion of S1 -, S2 -, -, and -caseins in camel milk (26:4:67:3, wt/wt) differed from that of bovine milk (38:10:36:12, wt/wt). This difference might explain the dissimilarity between the 2 milks with respect to technical and nutritional properties.