I. P. SINGH, T. M. PAUL C. P. ANANTAKRISHNAN and M. C. RANGASWAMY, 171
constants. No data seems to be available regarding the effect of the stage of lactation and season
of the year on the composition of butterfat of different breeds of Indian cattle. This information
is of considerable importance in India particularly in view of the fact that adulteration of ghee is
a very common practice and that ghee has to be judged by the analytical constants. The variation
of the analytical constants is fairly large and for a proper interpretation of the analytical results
it is necessary that one should know the effects of various factors on the constants of the butterfat.
Therefore, the present investigation was undertaken to study the variations in the constants of the
butterfat of the different breeds of Indian cattle available at this Institute.
EXPERIMENTAL
Three animals each of almost the same age, body weight, lactation and milk yeild were selected
from the Sindhi, Gir, Tharparkar and Murrah breeds of the Imperial Dairy Research Institute herd.
All the animals were almost in the same stage of lactation, i.e. within two and three weeks after
parturition. The animals were fed the usual ration that is given to the animals of the Institute herd.
The concentrated ration consisted of wheat bran, groundnut cake, gram and gram husk mixed in
the proportion of 4.0 : 2.5 : 1.5 : 2.0. This mixture was fed at the rate of one pound for every 2
lb. of milk yielded by the animals. The roughage consisted of a mixture 55 lb. of Guinea and Napier
grasses and 3 lb. of ragi straw for cows and 70 lb. of green grass mixture and 3 lb. of ragi straw for
buffaloes. A day's milk was collected from each animal separately once a week. The cream was
separated for butter making. The butter was melted into ghee at 115°C. and filtered and analysed
for R. M., (Reichert Meissl), iodine and Polenske values and B. R. (Butyro refractometer) reading.
This was continued for about nine months, i.e. till most of the animals went dry. Tables I to IV
give the R. M. values, Polenske values, iodine values and B. R. readings respectively.
TABLE I
Reichert Meissl value of the ghee samples
Sample
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Sindhi
1
30.0
28.9
26.9
28.0
29.2
28.9
29.8
27.0
28.8
28.9
28.4
27.5
28.2
28.4
28.1
27.9
28.0
2
29.8
29.9
26.9
29.2
29.8
29.6
29.8
29.7
29.6
29.8
29.4
29.5
29.2
30.1
28.9
29.0
29.0
3
28.0
29.0
29.5
29.0
28.9
28.8
28.0
29.1
28.9
28.7
28.8
29.4
28.5
27.2
28.0
28.1
27.8
Mean
29.3
29.3
28.4
28.7
29.3
29.1
29.2
28.6
29.1b
29.1
28.9
28.8
28.6
28.5
28.3
28.3
28.3
Gir
4
30.6
29.9
29.8
28.7
29.3
30.2
29.6
29.4
28.3
29.8
30.6
29.7
29.4
29.2
30.4
29.2
29.1
5
28.9
30.1
29.2
30.6
30.0
29.6
30.2
29.6
29.2
30.6
29.4
29.0
28.2
27.9
28.8
29.1
29.0
6
29.2
28.1
28.8
28.9
29.0
29.2
27.8
29.0
30.2
27.0
28.1
28.8
29.6
30.0
27.8
28.6
28.5
Mean
29.4
29.4
29.3
29.4
29.6
29.7
29.2
29.3
29.2
29.4
29.4
29.1
29.0
29.0
29.0
29.0
28.9
Tharparker
7
31.5
31.0
29.4
31.5
30.4
31.0
30.5
29.8
30.6
29.5
29.2
30.3
30.1b
29.8
29.7
29.6
27.5
8
28.2
29.4
28.1
29.4
28.6
29.2
28.9
28.6
28.9
28.7
28.8
28.6
27.4
28.5
28.6
28.4
29.3
9
31.7
31.5
30.8
29.9
31.4
30.8
30.6
30.8
30.8
31.9
32.0
30.8
31.6
30.7
30.6
30.5
31.4
Mean
30.5
30.6
29.4
30.2
30.1
30.3
30.0
29.4
30.1
30.0
30.0
29.9
29.7
29.7
29.6
29.5
29.4
Murrah
10
31.6
32.8
31.9
30.8
31.9
31.6
30.2
31.6
31.5
31.6
31.4
31.6
31.2
31.3
31.0
31.3
31.0
11
32.3
31.2
32.4
32.3
32.4
32.1
33.0
32.4
32.4
31.2
32.3
33.0
32.2
32.1
31.0
31.9
31.4
12
32.6
32.4
32.7
33.4
32.6
32.5
32.2
32.6
32.7
33.4
32.2
31.6
32.1
32.0
33.2
31.9
31.2
Mean
32.2
32.1
32.3
32.2
32.3
32.2
31.8
32.2
32.2
32.0
32.0
32.0
31.8
31.8
31.7
31.7
31.2
H