Composition and Physicochemical Characteristics of Milk of the West African Dwarf Goats in Cross River, Nigeria

Goat milk is a suitable alternative to human milk owing to its high beta casein content which makes it very digestible unlike cow milk. Moreover, the West African Dwarf goat is highly trypano- tolerant and thrives excellently in the humid forest zone of Nigeria. It therefore necessitated the need to expound its potential in human nutrition in the study area. The objectives of the study were to evaluate the proximate, mineral composition and physicochemical characteristics of milk of West African Dwarf goats in Cross River State, Nigeria .Twenty five lactating West African Dwarf does within the age of 3-5 years were milked from five Local Government Areas of Cross River State (Calabar South, Calabar Municipal, Akamkpa, Biase and Odukpani) in which three goat milk samples were obtained by hand milking from each location. Data collected were presented using descriptive statistics. Completely randomized design was used to study the relationship between components of the milk samples. Proximate components of milk were crude protein (3.91-6.35%), ether extract (2.69-5.04%), Ash (1.51-1.95%), Nitrogen free extract (88.68-90.32%) and moisture content (77.72-85.56%). Values of physicochemical components were: Total Acid (0.16-0.21%), Total solid (12.30-13.30%), Density (0.90-1.95%) and pH (6.50-6.90%). Elemental components (mg/100g) were potassium (202-64-204.39), sodium (49.06-49.96), calcium (133.18-133.98), magnesium (13.96-14.07), iron (0.04-0.07), zinc (0.30-0.32) copper (1.32-1.35) and phosphorus (110.32-110.98). Proximate composition of milk samples from the different locations varied significantly (p>0.05).Similarly, the physicochemical composition from the locations also varied significantly (p<0.05) with exception to milk pH with no significant difference. Mineral elements of milk samples from different locations were not significantly different except the potassium content in milk from Odukpani which was significantly lower than the other locations. Goat milk from the study locations met the nutritional standards in terms of proximate, mineral and physicochemical composition. Results from this research provides veritable information of the nutritional content of goat milk in the study locations particularly and help encourage the incorporation of goat milk in the diet of Nigerians generally.