Characteristics and Composition of Some Convolvulaceae and Leguminosae Seeds and the Oils

Abstract

B y M . H . K i t t u r , C. S. M a h a j a n s h e t t i andG. L a k s h m i n a r a y a n a *The seeds of Quamoclit coccinea, Ipomma horsfalliae, Argyria aggregata, Merremia pentaphylla (Convolvulaceae), Indigofera hirsuta, Dalbergia mlanarylon and Bauhinia vahlii (Leguminosae) as well as the oils extracted therefrom were analysed for physico-chemical characteristics and composition. The oil content was appreciable in 9: coccinea (22.6 O h ) , I. horsfalliae (19.8 O/o),A. aggregata (13.5 "h) and D . mlanoxylon (13.8 %) seeds. The protein content was high (21.8-26.9')h) in all except in M.pentaphylla and B. vahlii seeds. The iodine values ranged from 87.6 to 132.8. The content of unsaponifiable matter was low in all the oils. The predominant fatty acid was linoleic (34.3-59.7 oh), the othermajoracidsbeingpalmitic(14.4-23.8Vo) andoleic(6.5-22.lO/n).Significant quantities of stearic and longerchain saturated acids were also present. I n t r o d u c t i o nMany plants of forest origin yield seeds with a potential for providing newer sources of oils and proteins. With this in view, seeds of the following seven species were collected from the forests of Karnataka State, India, and examined for the first time except for one, for characteristics and composition.Quamoclit coccinea, Moench, syn., Ipomea coccinea Linn. (Convolvulaceae), is a shrub la with weak stems. It has ovate, chordate, acute leaves and lax cymes of crimson flowers. The fruit is a capsule containing four shining, brownish-black seeds.Ipomea horsflliae, Hook (Convolvulaceae) is a glabrous twiner with deeply divided palmate leaves and bell-shaped, rose-coloured flowers Ib. The fruit is an ovoid,papery capsule bearing four glabrous black seeds.A rgyria aggregata (Roxb.) Choisy, syn., Lettsomia aggregata Roxb. (Convolvulaceae) is alarge climbing shrub with ovate, chordate leaves and small tubular-campanulate pink flowers Ic. The fruit is smooth berry, 0.3 inch in diameteq red when ripe and contains greyish-black seeds.Merremia pentaphylla, Hallier (Convolvulaceae), is a twining annual herb and bears white, bell-shaped flowers Id. The fruit is an ovoid papery, glabrous capsule bearing four greyish-black seeds.Indigofera hirsuta, Linn. (Leguminosae) is an erect, 2-4 ft high herb It is an important pasture and yields a forage of good quality. The fruit is a pod, 0.75 inch long, densely clothed with soft hair and contains 6-8 cubical seeds.Dalbergia melanoxylon, Guill and Per. (Leguminosae) is a small tree, 15-20 ft high with branches armed with stout spines 2b. The fruit is a pod, 1-2.5 inches long, mostly containing one brown, kidney shaped seed, but rarely two seeds.Bauhinia vahlii, Wight and Am. (Leguminosae) is agigantic climber2c. The fruit is a flat woody pod, 9-12 inches long and about 2 inches wide, containing 6-10 oblong, ellipsoid, compressed, dark brown seeds. The bark yields excellent strong fibre (60%) used for making ropes. The seeds are eaten raw or fried which, when ripe, taste like cashew nuts.

Fatty Acid Profiles of Some Fabaceae Seed Oils

“…Table 2 gives the fatty acid profiles of the six oils studied in the present work. Oil yields from Overall, the most prominent fatty acid in the fatty acid profiles of Fabaceae (Leguminosae) is linoleic acid, shown not only by the present data in Table 2 (exception Clitoria ternatea which in this study contains slightly more linolenic acid that linoleic acid) but also by data in previous literature on less common Leguminosae oils [5][6][7][8][9]. Exceptions to this observation of the more than 110 fatty acid profiles in the previous literature [5][6][7][8][9] include Bauhinia vahlii [8], Canavalia ensiformis [5], Cassia fruticose [7], Centrosema pubescens [6, see Table 1], Clitoria rubiginosa [7], Clitoria ternatea [7; see Table 1], Crotalaria juncea [9], Elephantorrhiza goetzii [5], Erythrina indica [5], Lonchocarpus capassa [5], Millettia bussei [7], Pongamia glabra [5], Pseudocadia zambesiaca [5], Pueraria phaseoloides [6; C18:3 most common], and Tephrosia purpurea [5].…”

“…Minor to moderate amounts of saturated long-chain fatty acids appear to be typical for many, if not most, Leguminosae species as can be deduced from compilations of previous fatty acid profile data [5][6][7][8][9]. Some notable examples include Erythrina indicum with 16 % 22:0 [5], Tetrapleura tetraptera 20 % 22:0, 8 % 24:0 [5], Sindora wallichii 12 % C24:0 [7], Parkia roxburghii, Myroxylon toluiferum, Psophocarpus palustris, Pterocarpus indicus each 9 % C22:0 [7], Crotalaria juncea with 7.4 % 22:0 and 5.2 % 24:0 [9; also see text above] and differing reports on Trachylobium verrucosum as 11 % 24:0 [5] and 7 % C22:0 and 9 % C24:0 [7].…”

“…This is likely a result of their relative high-volume production and widespread use in physiological as well as industrial applications. For many other Fabaceae species, less information is available on their fatty acid profiles although some have been compiled, for example in studies on various tropical oils [5][6][7] and other reports [8][9][10]. It appears that the fatty acid profiles in these reports may not always be complete and some discrepancies between individual Abstract The fatty acid profiles of six seed oils of the Fabaceae (Leguminosae) family are reported and discussed.…”

Fatty Acid Profiles of Garuga floribunda, Ipomoea pes‐caprae, Melanolepis multiglandulosa and Premna odorata Seed Oils

“…While no information on the fatty acid profile on the seed oil of I. pes-caprae appears to be available in the literature, such data have been reported for various other Ipomoea species [4,[11][12][13][14][15]. With one exception, the results indicate that linoleic acid is the most prominent acid in Ipomoea seed oils followed by palmitic and oleic acids.…”

“…These data are summarized in Table 1. Fatty acid profile data for the seed oils of other members of the Convolvulaceae family also indicated that linoleic acid is the most common fatty acid in most of these oils (exception Merremia pentaphylla, with oleic acid second most common) [11,13].…”