Poster prepared by P. Leparmarai, C. Kunz, D.M. Mwangi, I. Gluecks, M. Kreuzer and S. Marquardt for the Tropentag 2019: Filling Gaps and Removing Traps for Sustainable Resource Management, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany, 18–20 September 2019

1. Milk fatty acid composition of camels and cattle grazing and
browsing in East-African rangelands
a
P. Leparmarai1,2, C. Kunz1, D.M. Mwangi2, I. Gluecks3, M. Kreuzer1, S. Marquardt1,3
Introduction
Materials & Methods
● Camels: ingestion of higher amounts of lignin, crude
protein, phenols and tannins, especially during TP,
compared to both cattle types.
● Cattle milk fat: contained higher proportions of SFA, while
camel milk fat had higher proportions of MUFA and PUFA,
including C18:3n-3.
● Supplementation: had almost no effect on milk FAs.
Almost no difference in milk FA profile of local and
crossbred cattle.
● The milk fatty acid profile of camel and cattle is differently
affected by seasonal changes in forage and diet selected.
● Camels and cattle: important livestock species in arid
and semi-arid rangelands of East Africa.
● Differences in diet selection: cattle (grazers), camels
(prefer browse, i.e., trees, shrubs, herbs).
● Hypotheses: (i) the fatty acid (FA) composition of camel
and cattle milk differs, (ii) there are seasonal differences in
the milk FA profile of camels, indigenous and crossbred
cattle (iii), there are differences in nutrient and phenol
intake and the milk FA profile of local and crossbred cattle
differs.
Conclusions
Results
- Study site: Laikipia, Kenya
- 2 seasons: rainy season (RS), drier transition period (TP)
- Half of the animals were supplemented with a urea-
molasses supplement
This project was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).
1ETH Zurich, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Zurich, Switzerland
2Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), Kenya
3International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya
- Direct observations & bite counting (one day per animal,
n=36 days/season) & chem. analysis of the most selected
plant species to estimate nutrient and phenol intake
- Milk samples collected at the end of each season & analysed
for fatty acid (FA) composition using gas chromatography
s.marquardt@cgiar.org
Proportions of saturated fatty acids (SFA)
in milk fat
Camel (RS)
Crossbred (RS)
Pokot (RS)
Camel (TP)
Crossbred (TP)
Pokot (TP)
%FAME
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
85
c c
b b
a
a
̸̸̸ ̸
Rainy season (RS) Transition period (TP)
Season (S): P < 0.001
Genotype (G): P < 0.001
S × G: P < 0.001
Proportions of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA)
in milk fat
Camel (RS)
Crossbred (RS)
Pokot (RS)
Camel (TP)
Crossbred (TP)
Pokot (TP)
%FAME
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
a
c
b
b
a
c
̸̸̸ ̸
Rainy season (RS) Transition period (TP)
Season (S): P < 0.001
Genotype (G): P < 0.001
S × G: P < 0.001
Proportions of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA)
in milk fat
Camel (RS)
Crossbred (RS)
Pokot (RS)
Camel (TP)
Crossbred (TP)
Pokot (TP)
%FAME
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
a
d
c
c
b
d
Rainy season (RS) Transition period (TP)
Season (S): P < 0.001
Genotype (G): P < 0.001
S × G: P < 0.05
Proportions of C18:3n-3 in milk fat
Camel (RS)
Crossbred (RS)
Pokot (RS)
Camel (TP)
Crossbred (TP)
Pokot (TP)
%FAME
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
a
de
c cd
b
e
Rainy season (RS) Transition period (TP)
Season (S): P < 0.001
Genotype (G): P < 0.001
S × G: P > 0.1
Figure 1. Proportions of fatty acids in milk fat (% FA methyl esters) in camel, crossbred
cattle and Pokot cattle in a rainy season (RS) and a transition period (TP).
Camel (Camelus dromedarius),
n=11 and 12 in RS and TP
Crossbred cattle (Boran x
Guernsey, Bos indicus x B.
taurus),
n=12/season
Pokot cattle (local cattle
genotype, B. indicus),
n=11 and 12 in RS and TP
Table 1. Estimated intake of nutrients and phenols of camels and
cattle during time spent on pasture (8 – 16 h, in g/kg BW0.75)
during the rainy season (RS) and transition period (TP) (n = 6 per
subgroup).
1S: season; 2SU: supplementation; ns: not significant.
Tropentag
Sept. 18-20, 2019
S1 Genotype SU2 Crude
protein
Lignin
(ADL)
Phenols
(TEP)
Tannins
(TT)
RS Camel yes 16.42a 22.33a 7.54a 2.33a
no 14.58ab 19.67a 5.54abc 1.40ab
Crossbred yes 10.19b 10.36bcd 3.65bcd 0.56cd
no 9.25b 9.67bcd 3.46cd 0.56cd
Pokot yes 10.44ab 10.28bc 3.36d 0.51cd
no 11.77ab 11.06bc 3.62bcd 0.49cd
TP Camel yes 9.68b 16.27ab 5.67ab 1.72ab
no 12.93ab 21.56a 5.56abc 1.33bc
Crossbred yes 3.01c 7.19cd 1.71e 0.34d
no 2.67c 6.60cd 1.45e 0.25d
Pokot yes 2.93c 6.99cd 1.60e 0.28d
no 2.43c 5.98d 1.32e 0.22d
SEM 1.242 1.531 0.505 0.225
P-values
Season (S) <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001
Genotype (G) <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001
Supplement (SU) ns ns <0.1 <0.05
S × G <0.001 <0.1 <0.001 ns
S × SU ns ns ns ns
G × SU ns ns ns <0.1
S × G × SU <0.1 <0.1 ns ns