Extraction and GC-MS analysis of the fatty acids in commonly consumed melon seed varieties in Nigeria
1 Department of Biochemistry, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria.
2 Department of Biochemistry, Benjamin Carson School of Medicine, Babcock University, Ilisan-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria
3 Department of Microbiology, School of Science & Technology, PMB 4005, Babcock University, Ilisan-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria.
Research Article
GSC Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2019, 07(03), 077–092.
Article DOI: 10.30574/gscbps.2019.7.3.0086
Publication history:
Received on 11 May 2019; revised on 24 June 2019; accepted on 27 June 2019
Abstract:
Egusi melon (Colocynthis citrullus lanatus) is a vegetable oil crop commonly grown in West Africa. In this study, four species of melon seeds, Cucumis melo, Citrullus lanatus, Citrullus vulgaris and Lagenaria siceraria, were analysed for fatty acid composition using Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry. The lipid profile showed that linoleic acid was the most predominant fatty acid in Lagenaria siceraria having the highest value (73.31%), followed by Citrullus vulgaris (67.79%) while Cucumis melo had 20.51% and none was present in Citrullus lanatus. Lauric acid (6.44), palmitic acid (2.80%), methyl esters of stearic acid (2.14%), palmitic acid methyl ester (21.20%), vaccenic acid (16.66%) and myristic acid (49.91%), which are saturated fatty acids, were found in Citrullus lanatus but were absent in the other melon species. In conclusion, this study showed that egusi Cucumis melo, Citrullus vulgaris and Lagenaria siceraria are rich sources of linoleic acid, an unsaturated fatty acid that is known to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases while Citrullus lanatus contain several saturated fatty acids which can increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Keywords:
Egusi; Citrullus lanatus; Linoleic acid; Unsaturated fatty acid
Full text article in PDF:
Copyright information:
Copyright © 2019 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0
