Pak. J. Bot., 43(4): 2029-2037, 2011. | Back to Contents | ||||
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Updated: 20-08-11 | ||||
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INTER-VARIETAL VARIATION IN THE COMPOSITION OF SEEDS AND SEED OILS FROM
WINTER MELON [BENINCASA HISPIDA (THUNB.) COGN.] FRUIT
Abstract:
Winter melon (Benincasa hispida), locally known as Kundur, is a
vegetable crop, popular, especially among Asian communities both for
nutritional and medicinal attributes. In the present work,
physicochemical properties of seeds and the extracted seed oils were
examined and compared among three cultivars namely round, oval and
hybrid of winter melon. The seeds from round, oval and hybrid fruits,
exhibited protein, fiber and ash contents 28.18-42.03, 19.36-26.21 and
5.02-11.81%, respectively. The oils were extracted based on Soxhlet
method by petroleum ether, whilst yields ranged from 17.78-32.53%
(wt/wt). The extracted oils were analyzed for physicochemical
parameters, and fatty acids, tocopherols and sterols profiles. The
results for specific gravity (25°C), refractive index (nD
25°C),
iodine value (IV), saponification value (SV), peroxide value (PV), and
free fatty acid (% as oleic acid) were 0.89-0.91 g/mL, 1.4627-1.4646,
119.9-125.1 g I/100 g oil, 182.3-194.1 mg KOH/ g oil, 1.13-1.33 mequiv.O2/kg,
1.57-2.10%, respectively. The oil color intensity in terms of yellow and
red units was 6.9Y + 1.0 R to 8.9Y + 1.9R. The amounts of oil
tocopherols as analyzed by HPLC varied widely among the cultivars tested
showing α-tocopherol 31.1-207.6 mg/kg and δ-tocopherol 60.4-146.0 mg/kg.
According to the GLC analysis linoleic acid (C18:2) was established to
be the principal fatty acid (63.10-70.64%) followed by C16:0
(12.45-17.59), C18:1 (8.46-12.87%) and C18:0 (5.13-7.48%). Analysis of
oil sterol fractions, using GC and GC-MS, revealed the presence of
β-sitosterol (54.62–60.50%), campesterol (15.10–18.50%), stigmasterol
(11.00–14.30% and Δ5-avenasterol (6.40–8.14 %) as the four
main components. Most of the properties of the seed oils analyzed varied
significantly among fruit cultivars tested. Overall, we concluded that
the seeds, which are under-utilized and often discarded as an agrowate,
from winter melon should be explored for extraction of high-linoleic oil
with additional tocopherols and phytosterol benefits. 1Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia 2Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of Agriculture Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan. *Corresponding authors: E-mail: nazamid@putra.upm.edu.my; Ph: +603-89468385, Fax: +603-89423552 |
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