Pak. 1. Agri. Sci. Vol. 38 (3-4), 2001 PRODUCTION AND COMPOSITION OF CAMEL MILK ..... REVIEW Bakht Baidar Khan & Arshad Iqbal Department of Livestock Management, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad I~has.been gen~rally agreed that the camel has the ability to produce more milk of good composition for a longer period of time In an environment of extreme temperature, drought and lack of pasture. In arid zones and drylands, camel has been termed as the goal animal in 21st century. Daily milk yield of camel varies from 3.5 litres (under desert conditions) to 40 litres (under intensive management). Lactation length ranges from 9 to 18 months. Milking frequency in camels varies betw~en two to ~ix times d~ily. Peak yield is normally attained during second to third month of lactation. Milk yield of ba~tnan ca~els, In general, IS. lo~er than that of dromedaries. The bactrian milk has high vitamin C content. The range of major constituents of camel milk IS: fat 2.9 to 5.5%, protein 2.5 to 4.5%, lactose 2.9 to 5.8%, ash 0.35 to 0.95%, water 86.3 to 88.5% and SNF 8.9 to 14.3%. Its mean specific gravity is 1.03. Key words: Bactrian camel, lactation length, milk yield and composition INTRODUCTION It is widely admitted that dromedary camels produce more milk of high nutritional quality and for a longer period of time than other species in an environment that may be rightly termed as hostile in terms of extreme temperature, drought and lack of pasture. Yagil and Etzion (1980b) observed that camel has the ability to produce milk of good composition and quantity for human consumption even when water is severely restricted. McDowell (1986) stated that camel's feeding behaviour, tolerance to high salt contents and ability to conserve water, make it the best of ruminants for arid and many semiarid areas. Mohammad (1989) remarked that camel is the most economical and efficient animal in the arid and semiarid range lands of Pakistan. Yagil (1990) said that with the help of modern science, poor farmers can raise camels for milk and can replace true cows of the desert, which inspite of their adaptability to the area seem to have low potential for milk production compared to the dromedaries. El-Naggar (1998) stated that camel is to be the goal animal in arid zones and drylands in 21 SI century. The observations of various workers given above tempted the authors to further gather together the information concerning production and composition of camel milk so that a clear picture may emerge, which in turn might provide a spur to the development/improvement of camel as a milk animal. Milk Yield and Lactation Length: Yasin and Wahid (1957) found that well fed and well managed dromedaries produced 9 to 14 litres milk daily and 2722 to 3629 litres in a lactation period of 16 to 18 months, while under desert conditions the average lactation yield varied from 1134 to 1588 litres milk in 9 months. Knoess (1977) studied milk yield of seven camels milked twice daily in Ethiopia. Mean daily milk yield was 6.6 litres. Field (1979) estimated daily milk yield of camels in northern Kenya at 21 litres in second week of lactation, falling to 4.80 to 2.21 by the sixteenth week of lactation. Depending on management and environmental conditions, the average lactation length in camel is 12 months with a range from 9 to 18 months. Sohai I (1983) reported that on average Arabian camels can produce up to 2275 litres of milk per year. Shareha (1985) reported 3.5 to 6.5 litres of milk daily with an average of 5.04 litres/day when milking half the udder twice a day and 7.26 to 12.20 litres daily when the udder was completely milked. Knoess et al. (1986) collected data on lactation yields of seven dromedaries in Punjab (Pakistan) and found that their mean daily yield was 18.68 litres and their average total yield in 305 days was 5695 litres. According to Qureshi (1986), on average a camel may produce 8 to 20 litres milk a day, but under intensive management conditions, it may produce from 15 to 40 litres daily. Lactation length in camel was found to vary from 9 to 18 months. Khanna (1986) reported an average daily milk yield varying from 3.5 to 10 litres and 40 litres in exceptionally good camels, while the lactation yield ranged between 2000 and 6000 litres. Gebre-Mariarn (1987) stated that average daily milk yield of Somali camels ranged between 5 and 6 litres. A good, a medium and a poor milker can produce 9030, 3185 and 805 litres respectively in 350 days while the average lactation yield was 3570 litres milk (lbnoaf, 1987). Milk yileld of 10 Majaheem camels was recorded during their first lactation for a period of 44 weeks. The milk was obtained from three teats since the fourth was kept for calf feeding and stimulation of milk letdown. The average milk yield was 5.5. ± 1.5 litres with a range from 2.4 to 7.6 litres. Peak yield was attained at 14 weeks which persisted for 12 weeks thereafter (Basmaeil and Bakkar, 1987). Milk yield of five Dankali camels kept on natural pastures in Ethiopia was recorded over a period of 12 1 14 months. Mean yield per head was [123 litres. The peak yield of 404 litres was obtained at day 56 (Richard and Gerard, [989). Saudi camels on average produced 16.6 litres milk per day and 5331 litres in a 13 months lactation period (Ismail and Al-Mutairi, 1990). An average of 6 litres milk yield per camel per day under feed lot system was reported by Ibrahim (1990). A study on nine Magrebi camels showed that in 305 days their milk yield varied from 915 to 3900 litres (Kamoun et al., 1990). Schwartz (l992a) reported that heavy camels of Pakistan and India may produce up to 12,000 litres milk in a lactation ranging from 9 to 18 months, whereas yield of Somalian and Kenyan dromedaries ranges from 1,300 to 64