Nutritive Assessment of Milk from Fulani Herds in the Derived Savanna Zone of Nigeria

Abstract

The quality assessment of fresh cow milk collected from Fulani herds in Ogbomoso, Arolu, Ife-Odan, Oyo and Iseyin in the derived Savanna Zone of Nigeria were carried out in a Completely randomized design with emphasis on the nutrient composition and microbial loads. Four fresh cow milk samples from separate settlements (rugas) were from Ogbomoso, Arolu, Ife-Odan, Oyo and Iseyin and preserved for seven days with 0.01 cm Potassium permanganate and kept in the refrigerator at 4°C before laboratory analyses. The moisture content of fresh cow milk from different locations ranged between 87.46-88.62%, the crude protein 3.26-3.85%, ash 0.65-0.75%, crude fat 3.49-3.55%, Lactose 0.46-0.64% and solid-non-fat 8.3-9.7%. Mineral composition of the milk showed that potassium content from different locations ranged between 0.46-0.64 percent, Calcium 0.21-0.23%, Magnesium 0.16-0.19%, Zinc 2.34-2.83%, Iron 0.32-0.56%, Copper 1.31-1.61%, Selenium 0.04-0.06%, Lead 0.00-0.14% and Cobalt 0.10-0.26%. Samples of fresh cow milk collected from Ogbomoso, Arolu and Ife-Odan had no traces of Salmonella and E. coli and thus contained low level of microbial count. Therefore, it can be concluded from this study that with the exceptions of the microbial counts, and lead contents there were no differences in all other parameters considered among the various locations in the zone.