Blood samples, taken on 6 occasions during 1 year from 172 cows resident in a dairy herd, were analysed for packed cell volume, blood glucose, haemoglobin (Hb), serum albumin, urea N, total protein, Ca, inorganic phosphate, Mg, Na and K. The data were analysed statistically, firstly with respect to date of sampling, stage of pregnancy or lactation and the interaction between stage of pregnancy or lactation and date of sampling, and secondly with milk yield as an additional factor for the data for lactating cows.

Concentrations of all constituents except inorganic phosphate and K varied significantly (P<0·001) with stage of lactation and/or pregnancy. The most significant changes in concentrations were confined to the periods up to 3 months either side of calving. The greatest changes in concentration during these periods occurred for Mg which rose during late pregnancy and for albumin which fell at or near calving. Albumin, urea and glucose were all, on average, lowest in concentration during the first month of lactation; globulin concentrations showed the reverse trend. Haemoglobin concentrations decreased during late pregnancy and early lactation and were lowest in the period 30–120 d post partum. Calcium concentrations decreased during late pregnancy and rose during early lactation. Sodium concentrations rose during late pregnancy. Interactions between dates of sampling and stages of lactation or pregnancy were significant (P<0·001) for all constituents, and most marked for glucose, urea, albumin, Hb, Ca and Na.

Haemoglobin and K concentrations fell and Mg concentrations rose with increasing milk yield, but the proportions of the total variance accounted for by differences in milk yield were small in relation to those accounted for by stage of lactation. These findings are of significance in relation to the selection of animals for sampling in the Compton Metabolic Profile Test.

A cubed molassed sugar-beet pulp product containing about 3% urea and with added minerals and vitamins was evaluated in 2 continuous feeding trials over 8–10 weeks with cows in early lactation and which had previously been accustomed to receiving dietary urea. In one experiment 50% substitution of a cereal/vegetable protein mixture resulted in a depression in mean daily milk yield of about 0·8kg. In the second experiment, the concentrate contained about 30% dried distillers grains and in this case replacement of one-half with the supplemented molassed sugar-beet pulp product did not decrease milk yields. There were no significant effects on milk composition.

Total acid-soluble carnitine concentration in cow's, goat's and ewe's milk was 117, 101 and 872 nmol/ml respectively, of which acetylcarnitine made up 30% in goats, 10% in cows and 11% in ewes. The concentration of carnitine in the arterial blood of goats decreased significantly (P < 0·01) with the onset of lactation from 18·1 to 8·4nmol/ml and during lactation in goats and cows there was a significant arterio-venous difference of carnitine across the udder, with mean extractions of 14 and 5% respectively. Calculation of the udder uptake of carnitine, from these figures and from udder blood-flows, showed that in goats the amount lost in the milk was much less than that taken from the blood, but in cows about the same. Two groups of lactating ewes on low and high nutritional planes were sampled at 2-weekly intervals from 2 to 8 weeks of lactation. The concentrations of total acid-soluble carnitine and acetylcarnitine in the milk were similar in the 2 groups and remained relatively constant over this period, but the total acid-soluble carnitine concentration in jugular blood from the ewes on the low nutritional plane was significantly (P < 0·01) higher than from the ewes on the higher nutritional plane from the fourth week of lactation. The total acid-soluble carnitine concentration in liver of goats was 290 nmol/g wet wt; mammary gland, 324; kidney-cortex, 692; heart, 2030 and skeletal muscle, 14300. Carnitine acetyltransferase (E.C. 2.3.1.7) activity of mammary tissue from lactating ewes was 0·6 μmol per min per g wet wt of which approximately half appeared to be ‘latent’ or membrane bound. Acetate thiokinase (E.C. 6.2.1.1) activity in this tissue was found to be 1·5 μmol per min per g wet wt and was predominantly localized in the cytoplasm. Carnitine palmitoyltransferase (E.C. 2.3.1.21) activity in the same tissue was 0·8 μmol per min per g wet wt while no acetylcarnitine hydrolase activity could be detected. The results suggest that carnitine in mammary tissue is extracted from the blood for the oxidation of both acetate and long-chain fatty acids and that some is lost in the milk.

The effects of NaCl, CaCl2 and temperature on the emitted fluorescence of anilinonaphthalene sulphonate (ANS) in solutions of αs1- and β-casein indicated that the ANS was associated with the protein. Increased aggregation of the protein was responsible for further enhancement of the fluorescence. Addition of CaCl2 to a mixture of αs1- and β-casein at 37 °C caused a greater increase in fluorescence than when αs1- or β-casein was used alone, supporting the suggestion that these 2 proteins form co-polymers with different properties from the homopolymers and indicating that hydrophobic bonding between αs1- and β-casein may be important in the presence of Ca.

Some of the acid phosphatase isozymes of bovine leucocytes and plasma have been separated and partly characterized. About 80% of the phosphatase activity of leucocytes at pH 4·9 was particle-bound and about 8% was extractable with Amberlite CG-50 ion exchange resin. This extractable enzyme existed as a single electrophoretic component with a mol. wt of about 42000 and with optimum activity at pH 5·8. Km for p-nitrophenyl phosphate was 1·6 mM at pH 5·8 and 0·4 mM at pH 4·9. At pH 5·8 orthophosphate (K1 = 1·5 mM) and pyrophosphate (Ki = 4·1 mM) were competitive inhibitors. The enzyme was also strongly inhibited by F−, Al3+, IO4− and S2032−. The enzyme which was not extractable with Amberlite was very heterogeneous with respect to molecular weight. At the pH optimum (4·9), Km for p-nitrophenyl phosphate was 0·4 mM and orthophosphate (K1 = 2·3 mM) and pyrophosphate (K1 = 2·1 mM) were competitive inhibitors. Other inhibitors included F−, Al3+, Hg2+, IO4− and tartrate. The enzyme extracted from plasma by Amberlite CG-50 treatment had properties similar to that extracted from leucocytes. Normal bovine milk contained a single acid phosphatase, but milk from cows with mastitis showed 3 electrophoretic isozyme bands, one being the same as in normal milk; the 2 additional bands were of leucocyte origin.

The effects of infusing endotoxin and a pathogen into different quarters of the udder of the same cow on the appearance and composition of milk membrane material were studied. Milk membrane was prepared by high-speed centrifugation of skim-milk. In samples from the control quarters only, a very thin layer covering the casein pellet was observed, whereas after the infusions it appeared as an opaque diffuse fluffy layer. The fluffy layer persisted for a maximum of 3 d after endotoxin infusion. A similar layer appeared 14 d after infusion of the pathogen and persisted, in spite of antibiotic treatment, throughout the experiment. From comparisons of (a) milk acid phosphatase activities between infused and control quarters, (b) the protein composition of milk membrane, and (c) morphological observations on the distribution of membrane material in milk, it was concluded that milk membrane originates from leucocytes, cell debris from the mammary gland, and the surface of the milk-fat globule membrane. The relative contribution made by these sources to milk membrane from healthy and infected udders is discussed.

The initial milk-fat globule membrane (MFGM) consists of a unit membrane with a layer of dense material 10–20 nm thick on one side. Extraction of isolated initial MFGM preparations 3 times with chloroform: methanol removes 90% of the triglycerides and most of the phospholipids. This extraction has no significant effect on the width or morphology of the dense material examined subsequently in the electron microscope, although all trace of the unit membrane disappears. This indicates that the dense material is more likely to be derived from protein from the secretory cell cytoplasm than from high-melting-point triglycerides from the milk-fat globule as has previously been asserted.

Reduction of the level of colloidal calcium phosphate (CCP) progressively increased the heat stability of milk at pH values <~7·0 and increased the pH of maximum stability. Removal of 40% CCP also stabilized the system at the pH of minimum stability, but removal of ≥60% CCP rendered milk very unstable at pH values >7·2, an effect not offset by a 4-fold increase in κ-casein concentration. Doubling CCP had a slight destabilizing effect in the pH range 6·5–7·5.

Addition of β-lactoglobulin to serum protein-free casein micelles had a marked destabilizing effect at pH values > ~6·8, but increased stability in the pH range 6·4–6·8. β-Lactoglobulin had a similar and more apparent effect on the heat stability of Na caseinate dissolved in milk diffusate.

It is suggested that rather than being a stabilizing factor responsible for the maximum in the heat stability-pH curve, the true effect of β-lactoglobulin is to shift the curve to more acid pH values (reason unknown) and to sensitize the caseinate system to heat-induced Ca phosphate precipitation at pH values > ~7·0. Low stability at ~pH 7·0 introduces an apparent maximum in the heat stability-pH curve at ~pH 6·8, but this has no independent existence. At pH values >7·2, increased protein charge more than off-sets the influence of heat-precipitated CCP and stability again increases in micellar but not in soluble casein systems.

A relationship between temperature and sterilizing efficiency of heat treatment at constant time is described and checked experimentally using spores of Bacillus coagulans 604 in a pilot ultra-high-temperature plant. The relation is:

where N0 and N are initial and final concentrations of spores, T the temperature (°C), z the temperature coefficient (°C, z=10/logQ10) and A a dimensionless constant. A special effect of the injection of spores into live steam is observed. The sterilizing efficiency curve can be used in determining the heating temperature for a desired sterilizing efficiency and in predicting the influence of temperature fluctuation on sterilizing efficiency.

Bovine, ovine and caprine pepsin and lamb, piglet and kid chymosins (rennins) were isolated by basically the same procedure of selective pH precipitation, DEAE-cellulose chromatography in phosphate buffer, pH 6·5 and Sephadex G-100 chromatography. The homogeneity of the preparations was assessed by (a) re-cycling on Sephadex G-100, (b) chromatography on DEAE-cellulose using piperazine buffer, pH 5·3 and (c) ability to inactivate ribonuclease.

The effects of 3 different thickening agents on the microstructure of yoghurt were examined by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Unsupplemented yoghurt consisted of casein micelles fused together and linked in long chains; they seldom appeared in clusters. The addition of 0·5% gelatin caused no observable change in the yoghurt structure. Carrageenan (0·4%) formed a markedly fibrillar microstructure which connected large clusters of casein micelles. The fibres were thin and long and no free terminations were observed. Pregelatinized waxy maize starch (2%) appeared under scanning electron microscopy in the form of short fibres and sheets. The fibres frequently had free terminations and only some of them were connected with small clusters of casein micelles. Transmission-electron microscopy did not distinguish between pregelatinized starch and carrageenan additives.