Abstract

CHARACTERISATION AND FATTY ACID PROFILE OF CUCURBITA PEPO SEED OIL

^1,2Omeh Yusuf S*., ¹Ijioma V.U., ²Ugwu Okechukwu P.C. and ²Enechi O.C.

ABSTRACT

Cucurbita pepo oil was extracted from samples of the Cucurbita pepo seed using Soxhlet solvent extraction. The oil yield of sample was 38.47%. The chemical and physical properties of the oil were also determined using standard methods. Fatty acid components were determined using the Gas chromatographic technique. The physicochemical analysis revealed brown coloured oil with relative density of (0.88), cloud point of (100ºC), PH of (1.96) at 25ºC, Melting point of (110ºC), unsaponifiable matters of (2.58mgKoH/g), saponification value (159.89mgKOH-1), acid value (3.74mgKOH/g), Iodine value (81.0) and Peroxide value (4.00mgEqKg-1). Gas-Liquid Chromatography also revealed that the major Fatty acids were: C14:O(0.16%), C16:O(20.33%), C10:O(10.70%), C18:1(11.40%) and C18:2(57.40%). The saponification and Iodine values obtained in this study shows the industrial potential of the oil, both in soap and coating industries. Also the high concentration of unsaturated fatty-acids in this study is an indicative that Cucurbita pepo oil could be heart friendly and therefore should be recommended for cardiovascular patients. Further investigation on the nutritional, pharmacological and lipid characterisation of Cucurbita pepo seed would form the basis of our future research.

Keywords: Extraction, Characterisation, Physiochemical analysis, Soxhlet Extraction and Cucurbita pepo seeds.