Physico-chemical composition, minerals, vitamins, amino acids, fatty acid profile and sensory evaluation of donkey milk from Indian small grey breed.

Composition, nutritional value and sensory characteristics of donkey milk of Indian small grey breed was analysed using AOAC and other standard methods. Fresh donkey milk had 90.63% (w.b.) moisture content, 0.76% fat, 1.96% protein, 6.30% lactose, 0.40% ash. Particle size of donkey milk was 355.00 d.nm. The UHPLC analysis ascertained that lysozyme content was more in donkey milk sample. The ICPMS confirmed that Ca, K, Mg, Na, vitamin C and E, glutamic acid, leucine, proline were the most abundant in donkey milk, but Fe, Zn, Vitamin A and B1, methionine shown lower amount. The GC analysis determined that butyric acid, lauric acid was more and lower amount of unsaturated fatty acids were observed in donkey milk sample. Finally, the TPC, yeast and mould count were acceptable and confirmed that donkey milk is microbiologically safe and sensory evaluation studies of donkey milk confirmed that the desired sensory attributes. © Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India) 2020.