The relationship between colour and chemical composition and IgG level in colostrum

Abstract

This paper aims to establish the relationship between colour, easily obtained with an effective method, and some physic-chemical properties of colostrum. To implement our method 26 goats belonging to the Canary Caprine Group were monitored post-partum (sample 0). During the first five days, ten samples of colostrum were obtained with a 12 hour time period elapsing between each sample-taking. In each colostrum sample, the colour (CIE L*a*b* system), the IgG concentration, the density, the conductivity and the chemical composition were measured. The results show that the b* co-ordinates (positive values indicate yellow-tending tones, negative values representing blue-biased hues) were the best predictors of chemical and immunological composition of colostrum, better even than density. The correlation's coefficients between b* and IgG, % proteins, % lactose, % fat were 0.89, 0.68, -0.70 and 0.71 respectively. Therefore the correlation found can be used as a field method in the early detection of colostrum poor in energy and immunoglobulines.