Ehab Romeih

Buffalo is the second source of milk in the world, and its milk is rich in nutritive components. It is well-known that breed influences milk composition. This work aimed to compare the detailed milk composition of three buffalo breeds (Murrah, Nili-Ravi, and Mediterranean) housed under the same environmental conditions. Mediterranean buffalo milk showed a significantly higher content of fat, protein, and some fatty acids. Moreover, the milk from the Mediterranean breed was characterized by the highest content of sphingomyelin (SM), cholesterol, and lanosterol. However, the Murrah buffalo milk contained the highest amount of total unsaturated fatty acids, phosphatidylinositol, and whey proteins. Furthermore, the Nili-Ravi buffalo milk was characterized by the highest content of total saturated fatty acids, phosphatidylglycerol, squalene, lathosterol, stigmasterol, beta-sitosterol, and casein fractions. Nevertheless, the lactose and amino acid profiles of the milk remained almost similar across the three buffalo breeds. The generated results in this study enable a comprehensive understanding of the milk constituent variability that is linked to buffalo breeds, which may support the acquirement of essential scientific knowledge on milk ingredient-processing interactions that will offer a foundation of knowledge for Chinese dairy processors in terms of milk processability and innovation.

To meet the increased consumer demand for yogurt with reduced fat content, various efforts have been made to improve the quality of reduced-fat variants that still is regarded as having inferior quality. As an alternative, a yogurt was produced from buffalo skim milk with the addition of microbial transglutaminase (TG; 1Ug-1protein) and buttermilk powder (BMP; 1% and 2% “w/w”). For comparison, a fat-free variant without TG or BMP, and a Full-fat yogurt was also studied. Monitoring the pH drop during incubation time revealed that TG did not interfere with the pH reduction, while BMP addition accelerated the decline in pH. TG treatment or BMP addition substantially improved the water holding capacity functionality of the yogurt gel. Electrophoretic analysis revealed that addition of BMP enhanced the reactivity of TG as indicated by appearance of high molecular weight protein polymer bands. These results were confirmed by scanning electron microscope analysis. Addition of TG and BMP, either individually or in combination, showed a marked impact on gel network, resulting in a more compact and dense gel structure accompanied by irregular agglomerated clusters of protein aggregates. Fat-free yogurts of individually BMP addition exhibited the most desirable organoleptic attributes as indicated by a sensory panel and were perceived as similar to the full-fat yogurt perception. Overall, addition of TG or BMP appeared to have potential as a valuable alternative in fat-free yogurt production, and BMP can be used as a source of extra protein, which in-turn offers promising option to develop innovative functional fat-free yogurt