Location, Season and Source Effects on Gross Composition of Raw Cow’s Milk Across Khartoum State, Sudan

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of sources. locations and seasons (late summer and winter) on the chemical composition of cow milk collected from Khartoum State. The samples were collected randomly in the morning or the evening. Two hundred and seventy milk samples were collected from farms (90 samples), groceries (90 samples) and vendors (90 samples) in Khartoum State during the late summer and winter seasons, 135 samples each. The milk samples were kept in cool cracked ice and transported immediately to the laboratory to estimate the gross compositional contents. The experiment was designed using a complete randomized design, and the data were analyzed using the SPSS program. The results indicated significant (P ≤ 0.01) variations for the chemical composition of the raw cow’s milk collected during late summer and winter seasons as the data showed 12.44% ± 1.23% and 11.95% ± 1.70% total solids, 4.56% ± 1.02% and 4.79% ± 1.14% fat and 3.28% ± 0.79% and 3.67% ± 0.51% protein, respectively. Also, the average means of fat, protein and ash content were significantly (P ≤ 0.01) affected by the locations from which the samples were obtained. The higher average fat content (4.93 ± 1.04%) was found in the milk collected from Omdurman city. However, the total solids content of the milk samples collected from different sources, including farms, groceries, and vendors, were not significantly (P > 0.05) different. The present data showed that the chemical compositions of milk were significantly (P ˂ 0.01) affected by the interaction of seasons and the sources of the samples as well as between the seasons and locations. Moreover, the milk produced and marketed in Khartoum State has a good compositional content that ranges within the standard values.