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Monitoring of seed composition of prickly pear ( Opuntia ficus‐indica L) fruits during maturation period
Author(s) -
Coşkuner Yalçı n,
Tekin Aziz
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.1423
Subject(s) - pear , chemistry , botany , food science , linoleic acid , zoology , biology , horticulture , fatty acid , organic chemistry
Prickly pear fruit seeds were subjected to a range of chemical analyses during their 15 week maturation period. Seeds contained on average 71.5 g kg −1 dry matter, 61.9 g kg −1 crude oil, 9.4 g kg −1 protein, 507.4 g kg −1 crude fibre, 12.3 g kg −1 ash and 409.0 g kg −1 carbohydrate. The fatty acid composition of prickly pear seed oil consisted of 1.3–1.9 g kg −1 myristic (14:0), 132.1–156.0 g kg −1 palmitic (16:0), 14.4–18.5 g kg −1 palmitoleic (16:1), 33.1–47.9 g kg −1 stearic (18:0), 210.5–256.0 g kg −1 oleic (18:1), 522.5–577.6 g kg −1 linoleic (18:2), 2.9–9.7 g kg −1 linolenic (18:3), 4.2–6.6 g kg −1 arachidic (20:0) and 2.1–3.0 g kg −1 behenic (22:0) acids, which is comparable with that of corn oil. No statistical difference in seed weight ratio was determined during the maturation period, whereas changes in the saturated fatty acids of the seed oil were observed. From this study it can be concluded that the seeds of prickly pear are suitable as animal feed. Copyright © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry