Challenges and opportunities of bovine milk analysis by mass spectrometry

摘要

Bovine milk and its products (e.g. cheese, yoghurt) are an important part of human diet with beneficial effects for all ages. Although analyses of different milk components (e.g. proteins, lipids) pose huge challenges, the use of mass spectrometric (MS)-based techniques is steadily improving our understanding of the complexity of the biological traits that effect milk yield and its components to meet the global demand arising from population growth. In addition, different milk constituents have various applications in veterinary research and medicine, including early disease diagnosis. The aim of the review is to present an overview of the progress made in MS-based analysis of milk, and suggest a multi-pronged MS strategy to better explore different milk components for translational and clinical utilities. Agriculture, a pivotal sector for ensuring food and nutritional security, is undergoing a radical change in India and at the global level. Conventional crop and animal production methods are facing enormous pressure related to increased grain and animal production to meet the growing demand of population increase [1]. Although Indian agriculture performed better than expected during the global food crisis in 2008, the agriculture sector needs to envision future challenges as potential opportunities to make it more sustainable to provide food security and alleviate poverty [2]. In India, livestock as a sub-sector of agriculture contributes significantly to the economy by ranking first in world milk production, as well as producing vast amounts of milk products, meat, eggs, wool, hide and skin [3]. Livestock in spite of sustained pressure from climate change and increased demand of animal protein has consistently contributed significantly to the agricultural gross domestic product. For example, animal husbandry involves approximately 5.5 % of the total work force in the country, as well as providing gender equity and women empowerment [4].