Chemical and microbiological characteristics of Llama's (Lama glama) milk from Argentina

The objective of this study was to evaluate the chemical characteristics, fatty acid composition and microbiological quality of llama's (Lama glama) milk from Tucuman, Argentina. Good nutritional properties were determined showing a value of 4.33 % for protein, 6.34 % for lactose and 4.55 % for fat. Saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids (FA) showed a value of 64.8, 31.1 and 4.0 g/100g of fat, respectively. Among polyunsaturated FA, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) showed an average of 0.7 g/100 g of fat. Cholesterol content in llama milk was 84.8 mu g/ml resulting lower compared with ruminants. For mesophillic microorganism microbiological counts revealed a value of 4.34 x 10(3) CFU/ml. A dominance of cocci (2.18 x 10(3) CFU/ml) on Lactobacilli (3.0 x 10(1) CFU/ml) was observed. Low coliform and Enterobacteriaceae counts were determined (4.4. and 1.6 x 10(1) CFU/ml, respectively). Somatic cell count was low compared to ruminant milk. High nutritional and microbiological quality was determined for llama milk, from animals fed on natural pasture during summer season.