164
A Study of Vitamin A in Buffaloes' Milk throughout a Lactation
Except buffalo No. 10 which died of mammitis the blue units per gram of butter fat are almost
constant. The average is between 23 and 26.8. The vitamin-A activity dropped with the low per-
centage of fat. It appears that there is a general and not an exact relationship between the per-
centage of fat and vitamin-A potency of milk.
In cow's milk Moore blue units per 100 c.c. varies between 125 and 175, while the value per gram
of butter fat is almost identical with buffalo's milk.
Buffalo's milk is almost devoid of colour, the carotene being absent in the milk while it is present
in sufficient amount to colour cow's milk.
Table VIII gives the quantity of carotene fed to the buffaloes in milligrams throughout the
lactation. The highest amount of carotene fed to any one animal was 5940 milligrams and the lowest
1700 milligrams during one week. The carotene content of the concentrate mixture in the basal
rations was negligible and thus was not taken into consideration.
TABLE VIII
Intake of carotene fed to buffaloes in milligrams
Date
4th November . . .
12th November . . .
19th November . . .
26th November . . .
3rd December . . .
10th December . . .
17th December . . .
5th January
.
.
.
.
13th January
.
.
.
.
20th January
.
.
.
.
26th January
.
.
.
.
3rd February
.
.
.
.
10th February . . .
17th February . . .
25th February . . .
3rd March . . . .
11th March
.
.
.
.
24th March
.
.
.
.
1st April
.
.
.
.
8th April
.
.
.
.
28th April
. . . .
5th May
.
.
.
.
12th May
.
.
.
.
19th May
. . . .
28th May
.
.
.
.
9th June
.
.
.
.
16th June
.
.
.
.
23rd June
.
.
.
.
1st July
.
.
.
.
15th July . . . .
22nd July . . . .
29th July . . . .
Buffaloes
Group A
1
3510
3200
3538
4536
4456
4861
2970
3781
3780
2727
2700
2700
3092
2435
3024
3240
3160
3240
3240
3375
2970
3175
2763
2763
2210
2725
4526
4015
3160
2740
2727
2210
2
3510
3375
3551
3511
3187
3214
4076
2892
3362
2916
2133
2700
2972
2430
3024
3240
3116
2835
2700
3118
2700
2700
2646
3605
2830
2650
2845
2923
1830
2430
2430
1890
3
3510
3483
3214
4052
4590
4861
2970
3280
3780
3240
3240
3240
3132
3118
3024
3240
3240
3511
3428
3511
3240
3375
2712
3414
2416
3750
3480
2692
3852
2835
3105
2210
4
3510
3139
3050
4052
3105
3511
2970
3780
3780
3240
3240
3240
3117
2902
3024
3240
3730
3428
3240
2780
3240
3375
3645
3414
2900
2145
3130
3240
2459
2193
2505
2025
Group B
5
3510
3328
3862
5670
3782
3645
2970
3780
3780
3240
3240
3240
3118
3240
2998
3240
3780
3511
3289
3837
2910
3645
3672
3414
2165
3300
3724
2725
3806
2592
2762
1940
6
3510
3105
4376
3511
4994
4454
2970
2226
3780
2565
3240
3240
3240
3120
3105
2702
3780
2970
3240
3455
2133
3105
3116
3172
2226
3145
3910
3186
3020
2267
2754
2376
7
3510
3437
3390
4052
3245
3220
2970
3780
3780
3010
3240
3240
3092
2970
2890
3240
3790
3511
2970
3845
2725
3375
3116
3104
2320
3510
3652
2725
2510
2024
3242
1720
8
3510
2925
3348
4861
4320
4185
2970
3780
3780
3118
2160
2700
3092
2970
2917
2200
3710
3240
2990
2132
2453
2813
2378
1845
1700
3780
3285
3130
1712
2320
2564
1380
Group C
9
3510
3173
3740
4861
4051
3910
2970
3780
3780
3200
3240
3240
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
10
3510
3452
4024
5940
4320
4320
2970
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
11
3510
4052
4995
4376
3427
3375
2970
3780
3780
3200
3215
3240
2902
3240
2944
3240
3240
3240
3250
3402
3240
3375
3003
3042
2540
3420
2910
3348
2868
2400
3720
2266
12
3510
3245
4227
4590
4321
4052
2970
3780
3510
3132
2916
2700
3200
2430
2944
3132
3240
3240
3120
3511
2430
3375
2401
2140
1700
2646
2700
2322
..
2430
2565
1890
The provision of high carotene feed, above a minimum requirement which is not accurately
known at present, will be advantageous if it can improve the vitamin-A value of the butter fat in
the milk. The feeds employed in these experiments effectively provided sufficient vitamin-A for
maintenance and reproduction as well as for the production of butter fat of high vitamin-A activity.