CONTENT OF TAURINE AND OTHER FREE AMINO-ACIDS IN MILK OF GOATS BRED IN ITALY

Taurine, considered a 'conditionally essential amino acid' and the pro file of free amino acids in milk from four different goat breeds bred in Italy (Garganica, Maltese, Saanen and Derivata di Siria) were deter mined by using a new physico-chemical purification system. The trial i nvolved three different stages of lactation: beginning, middle and fin al. Taurine was the most representative free amino acid in goat milk, followed by glycine, glutamine and glutamic acid. Taurine was signific antly the highest in the Maltese breed milk (90.90 vs. 55.21, 49.59 an d 36.80 mu mol/100 mi in Garganica, Derivata di Siria and Saanen, resp ectively). Also, the total amino acid content in the Maltese breed was significantly higher (252.10 mu mol/100 mi vs. 200.62 in Derivata di Siria, 200.45 in Garganica and 174.42 in Saanen). As far as the trend during lactation was concerned, the Tau amount was the highest at the final stage, but a significant difference was found only between the s econd and the final stages. The multivariate analysis of variance show ed a highly significant difference (P=0.0001) for breed factor, lactat ion stage factor and for their interaction. This investigation showed also that the milk from goats, bred in Italy, and especially from the Mediterranean breeds, had a high content of taurine in all stages of l actation, and new-borns and infants fed goat milk do not need any addi tion of this amino acid. Further investigations are needed to verify i f Maltese milk has higher taurine contents than other breeds. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.