Nutritional and phytochemical composition of Moringa oleifera seeds: A multipurpose potential species in India Raina Archana P.*, Kaushik S.K. Division of Germplasm Evaluation, ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi-110012, India *Corresponding author e-mail: aprraina@yahoo.co.in
Online published on 18 January, 2021. Abstract Moringa oleifera Lam. (Moringaceae) is a cosmopolitan tree that grows in many tropical countries having various nutritional and pharmacological applications. This tree species has gained importance due to its multipurpose usage and well adaptability to dry and hot climates of north-western plains, central India and dry regions of peninsular India. The young leaves, flowers and pods are common vegetables in several Asian diet. The seed protein and fat contents are higher than those reported for other important grain legumes and soybean. Present work aims to evaluate seed composition of M. oleifera germplasm grown in India for protein, lipid, flavonoid, phenol and fatty acids composition. Biochemical composition of M. oleifera seeds showed moisture content of 4.45%-7.79%; oil content of 27.6%-38.6% (w/w); crude protein content of 34.14%-40.13% (w/w); flavonoid content of 2.86 to 7.53 mg/g QE and phenol content of 7.29 to 16.4 mg/g GAE across germplasm collections. Fatty acid composition of oil analyzed by GC-MS showed oleic acid as the most predominant fatty acid (65.89-79.74%) present in all the germplasm collections similar to olive oil. Other major fatty acids identified were palmitic acid (10.2-18.0%), stearic acid (2.7-5.5%), eladic acid (0.63-5.38%), gonodic acid (1.41-2.78%), behenic acid (0.68-1.83%), and arachidic acid (1.0-2.8%). High oleic acid germplasm lines (>75%) identified were IC613770, IC585841 and IC613771. Hence, Moringa oil having high oleic acid with low polyunsaturated fatty acid provides it an outstanding and remarkable oxidative stability property and will be boon for food industry for having health supportive and better oxidative stability. Because of its nutritional properties, the low toxicity of the seeds and the excellent ability of the plant to adapt to poor soils and dry climates, M. oleifera can be an alternative source of highquality protein, oil and antioxidant compounds. Top Keywords Moringa oleifera, Drumstick, Fatty acid composition, GC-MS. Top |