Composição físico-química e Contagem de Células Somáticas (CCS) no leite de búfala produzido no município de Parintins, Baixo Amazonas.

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the physicochemical characteristics and somatic cell count in raw milk from Murrah buffaloes and their crossbreds produced in the municipality of Parintins, Baixo Amazonas, establishing mean parameters for the region, as well as evaluating the influence of the period of the collection in the composition of the milk and verifying if the good practices at the time of milking are followed in this region. Eighty milk samples from two herds collected from April to August 2019 were evaluated. The study was conducted at the Federal University of Amazonas – UFAM, in the agricultural products technology laboratory of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences - FCA. Fat (GORD), protein (PROT), lactose (LACT), total solids (ST) and non-fat solids (SNG) contents were determined by infrared radiation spectrophotometry using Bentley® 2000 equipment (Bentley Instruments, Chaska, MN, USA), while somatic cell count (CCS) was performed at the milk clinic in Piracicaba/SP by flow cytometry using Somacount® 300 equipment (Bentley Instruments, Chaska, MN, USA). To evaluate the effect of the months and seasons on the constituents of milk and CCS, a 4x2 factorial scheme (4 months and 2 seasons) was used. The mean content, standard deviation and coefficient of variation were calculated using descriptive statistics. constituents: fat, protein, lactose, total dry extract, defatted dry extract and somatic cell count. The adjusted means found in this work for the main constituents of buffalo milk were: fat (6.25%), protein (4.49%), lactose (4.96%), total solids (16.81%), solids non-greasy (10.55%,) and CCS (121.1mil CCS/mL). The season of the year did not influence the composition and CCS of the milk. Although the associations of the studied variables were significant, the most relevant correlation coefficient was between fat and total solids (0.98), in this sense, the total solids are more influenced by the fat content than by the protein content in the milk. The correlation between CCS and other milk constituents was low. In general, a low level of adherence to good milking practices was observed, however this does not seem to have affected the quality of the milk produced. The high percentages of protein and fat give a high nutritional value to buffalo milk. The somatic cell count presented values within what is recommended for good quality milk.