Abstract
Eighty Hundred individual's morning and evening milk samples were collected from sixteen Iraqi merize goat mothers for five weeks (35 days) milking and lactating period at spring season with climate temperature ranged between 14-23°C. Milk samples were analyzed for fat, protein, lactose, total solids (TS), and solid nonfat (SNF) percentages, and pH value. The general average of merize goat's milk composition were 3.91, 3.39, 4.60 , 85.52, 8.84, and 12.81% for fat, protein, lactose, water, SNF, and TS respectively. While the pH value was 6.73 at milking time. Those milk chemicals constituents were affected by the Merize goat age. Which affect all the milk chemical constituents, while the pH value was not affected with the goat's age. The fat and lactose of goat's milk distribution along the lactating period were elevated from the first week to the maximal values 4.95 and 4.73% respectively in the second and third weeks for fat and lactose alternatively, and then declined to the minimum values 3.31 and4.44% respectively at the fifth week of lactating period. While the milk water content was adversely proportional to the protein, SNF, and TS percentages. The water percent elevated from the minimum value 83.10% in the first week to the maximum value 87.25% in the fifth week, while the protein, SNF and TS were declined from the maximum values 3.78, 9.38, and 14.16% respectively in the first week to the minimum values 3.25, 8.42, and 11.20% respectively in the fifth week. The milk pH distribution value was elevated from 6.71 in the first to the maximum value 6.78 at the third week then declined to the minimum value 6.66 at the fifth week along the studied lactating period.
