RESEARCH ON THE QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE EVOLUTION OF SHEEP'S MILK DURING THE LACTATION PERIOD

Sheep's milk is a very important food for human nutrition and is also an important raw material for a whole series of dairy products. The purpose of the current paper is to investigate the milk's quantitative and qualitative variations, during the lactation period in sheep. Milk samples were collected and some parameters, such as: quantity, density, percentage of fat, protein substances and lactose were monitored every month of lactation. The obtained results (compared to the 2nd month) showed significant increase (P<0,05) in the case of milk production for the 3rd month (with 10.9%) and for the 4th month (with 9.95%). Significant increase was also obtained in the case of milk density for the 4th month (with 0.29%), for the 5th month (with 0.48%) and for the 6th month (with 0.77%). Concerning the percentage of fat, it also showed increase for the 5th month (with 9.45%) and for the 6th month (with 24.32%). Simultaneous, significant decreases (P<0.05) were found in the case of milk production in the 5th month (with 10.6%) and in the 6th month (with 30.13), as well as in the percentage of lactose in the 5th month (with 4.79%) and in the 6th month (13.73%).