108 Buffalo milk has an important role in human nutrition in India, where buffaloes are the major dairy animals with a population of about 109 million (19 th Livestock Census 2012). In national total milk production of 155.5 million tonnes (year 2015–16), buffaloes contribute more than 55%. There are thirteen recognised buffaloes breeds in the country and Bhadawari is one of them famous for high milk fat content. Average standard lactation milk yield of Bhadawari buffaloes is around 1500 kg. Average fat, SNF, protein and lactose in Bhadawari buffaloes milk recorded were 8.26, 9.57, 4.05 and 5.23%, respectively (ICAR-IGFRI Annual Report 2015–16). Milk composition and quality are important characteristics that determine the nutritive value and consumer preference. Normally milk fat contains about 65% saturated, 30% monosaturated and 5% polyunsaturated fatty acids. Saturated fatty acids are associated with cholesterol and heart disease. Poly unsaturated fatty acids such as omega 3 and omega 6 and mono unsaturated fatty acids are considered to be good for human health. Whether saturated fatty acid is a risk factor for heart diseases is a question with numerous controversial views. World Health Organization advises that saturated fat is a risk factor for heart diseases and recommend dietary limits on saturated fats as one means of reducing that risk (WHO 2003). However, Mente et al. (2009) reported that despite the contribution of dairy product to the saturated fatty acids intake of the diet, there was no clear evidence that dairy food consumption is consistently associated with higher risk of cardiovascular disease. Several other studies (Chowdhury 2014, Siri-Tarino 2010) have opined that saturated fat was not associated with risk of cardiovascular diseases. The milk fatty acids composition depends on several factors such as species, breed and genetic variation, stage of lactation, health and nutrition etc. To our knowledge probably no information is available on the fatty acid profile of Bhadawari buffalo’s milk. Hence the present work was undertaken to study the milk fatty acid composition of the Bhadawarti buffaloes known for their high milk fat content. The study was carried out at Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, where a herd of Bhadawari buffaloes is being maintained under Network Project on Buffalo Improvement. The milk samples were collected from lactating buffaloes of nearly same body weight (around 400 kg). Animals were maintained under uniform management conditions. All the buffaloes were stall fed and had access to green fodder ad lib. while concentrate mixture was provided at the rate of 1 kg/2 kg of milk production as recommended by Ranjhan (1994) for lactating buffaloes under tropical conditions. The ration was offered twice daily in equally divided doses, while clean drinking water was made available ad lib. During the month when milk samples were collected for fatty acid analysis, buffaloes were offered wheat straw, berseem/oat and concentrate mixture (barely, mustard cake and wheat bran in equal proportion along with common salt and mineral mixture at the rate of 1 kg each for 100 kg of concentrate). Milk samples for fatty acid profile estimation were collected from 10 multiparous lactating buffaloes during the month of January. At sampling time, average days of lactation were 81 days ranging from 20 to 126 days. Fat was separated from each of the milk samples collected. Milk fat samples were analysed for milk fatty acid profile at CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, India, using AOCS Official Method 1998, Ce1–62 and Ce2–66. Twenty–two fatty acids of different saturation levels were detected in Bhadawari milk (Table 1), where 13 were saturated (SFA) and 9 were unsaturated fatty acids (USFA). The milk contained 77.3% saturated fatty acids (SFA), 21.54% monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), 1.1% poly unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and 1.4% unidentified (Table 2). The quantity of saturated fatty acids in Bhadawari buffaloes was comparatively higher than those reported by Qureshi et al . (2015) in Nili ravi buffaloes (70.41%), Varricchio et al. (2007) in Mediterranean buffaloes (64.78 to 66.34%), Fernandes et al. (2007) in Brazillian Murrah buffaloes (55.6 to 62.6%) and Mihaylova and Peeva (2007) in Bulgarian Murrah buffaloes (64.92 to 77.60%). These differences could be due to difference in breed, feeding and Present address: 1 Principal Scientist (bpkush64@gmail.com), Network Project on Bhadawari Buffaloes; 6 Director (inderjeetdr@gmail.com), Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, Hisar, Haryana, India. 2-4 Principal Scientist (singh.sultan@rediffmail.com, sb_maity@yahoo.co.in, krisksingh@gmail.com), 5 Principal Scientist and Head (asimkmisra@gmail.com). Milk fatty acid profile of Bhadawari buffaloes B P KUSHWAHA 1 , SULTAN SINGH 2 , S B MAITY 3 , K K SINGH 4 , A K MISRA 5 and INDERJEET SINGH 6฀ ICAR-Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh 284 003 India Received: 16 November 2017; Accepted: 30 December 2017 Key words: Bhadawari buffalo, Fatty acid, Milk fat, Saturated fatty acid Indian฀Journal฀of฀Animal฀Sciences฀88฀(7):฀868–870,฀July฀2018/Short฀communication https://doi.org/10.56093/ijans.v88i7.81504