Cheese-making ability of dromedary camel milk: comparison with cattle, buffalo, goat and sheep milk

This preliminary study was carried out to compare dromedary camel milk with the milk from the other major dairy species in terms of coagulation traits and cheese-making ability. Ten bulk milk samples (2.0 l each) per species were collected from different Italian farms for cattle, buffalo, goat and sheep species, while 10 milk samples were collected from dromedaries reared in two Algerian areas. We processed the milk to assess, and analyze using mixed models: (1) milk composition; (2) milk coagulation properties, through lactodynamography with two replicates per sample; (3) curd firming and syneresis equation parameters, through modelling of 240 point measures from each replicate; (4)% cheese-yield traits, through individual model-cheese procedure on each milk sample; (5) milk nutrients recovery in curd, from cheese-making. Dromedary milk presented (mixed model): a fat and protein content not different from bovine, and caprine milk, but smaller than bubaline and ovine milk; a coagulation time interval after rennet addition (LSM: 13.9 min) about half than bovine milk and similar to other dairy species; a potential curd firmness (41.4 mm) and a curd firming rate (9.5%/min) similar to bovine milk, but a greater syneresis rate (1.9%/min) and then a much lower maximum curd firmness (17.8 mm) measured 36.2 min after rennet addition. The cheese yield of dromedary milk (13.8%) was lower than that of buffaloes (25.7%) and ewes (23.2%), and intermediate to that of cows (15.2%) and goats (11.9%). The recovery of milk fat (58.2%), total solids (39.7%) and energy (49.4%) in the fresh cheese was lower than for other dairy species, whereas recovery of protein (78.0%) was similar. In conclusion, the peculiar pattern of coagulation, curd firming and syneresis should be considered to optimize milk processing and increase the efficiency of dromedary camel cheese production.