PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF TROPICAL AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE

Colostrum could provide significant fatty acids (FAs) essential for the development of living organisms. Yet to date, only a few works was performed to evaluate the composition of this important resource. In order to enrich data availability on the first milk, the objective of this work was to study bovine colostrum by comparing its composition in FAs with that of cow's mature milk. In this study, colostrum was sampled in warm season during the first day of postpartum from imported Prim'Holstein cows, and comparing it with mixed milk produced from a dairy-farm located in Tipaza region, northern Algeria. The proportion of saturated short-chain fatty acids was higher in mature milk than in colostrum (P<0.05). Medium and long chain saturated fatty acids present greater contents (P<0.01) in colostrum, with predominance (P<0.01) of myristic (C14:0) and palmitic (C16:0) acids. Among monounsaturated fatty acids, oleic acid (C18:1 n-9) revealed more elevated proportions (P<0.05) in milk. Polyunsaturated fatty acids were more marked (P<0.01) in colostrum, with high linoleic acid (C18:2 n-6) levels, while α-linolenic acid (C18:3 n-3) contents were weaker. The n-6/n-3 ratio as well as the atherogenicity index (AI) values confirmed that both were to the advantage of bovine colostrum. Even though the AI is significantly higher in colostrum, the value (1.89±0.01) obtained nevertheless remains lower than those previously reported.