Study of some physicochemical parameters and analysis of mineral elements, chlorophyllian pigments and carotenoids of Griffonia simplicifolia seed oil

Abstract

In Africa, many of the plant resources of high nutritional value are not yet included into the diet of local populations. The overall objective of this study is to contribute to the valorisation of the seeds of Griffonia simplicifolia in agri-food and phytomedicine. The specific objectives were to evaluate the physicochemical characteristics and to determine the minerals and total pigment contents of the oil. The extraction of the oil with Soxhlet provided a yield of 28.40±1.20%. The evaluation of the physicochemical parameters of the oil by the norms of AFNOR yielded the following results: refractive index: 1.47153±0.00112; density: 0.91062± 0.00050 kg/dm3; water and volatile matters content: 7.88±1.83%; acid number: 23.09±0.44 mg KOH/g; saponification number: 186.59±0.63 mg KOH / g; iodine number: 13.38 ± 1.59 g I2/100 g; ester number: 163.50±0.19 mg KOH/g; peroxide value: 440.04±2.59 μg O2/g and calorific value: 40440.72±30.79 kJ/kg. The flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer assay showed that the oil contains (mg/L): K/250.2; P total/138.0; Ca/16.3; Na/12.6; Mg/11.5; Fe/0.6; Cu/0.20; Zn/0.05) and Mn/0.03. The contents of total chlorophylls (a & b) and total carotenoids are respectively: 95.554 μg/g; 156.284 μg/g and 26.011 μg/g. In short, the oil of the seeds of Griffonia simplicifolia has an interesting and valuable pharmaco-nutritional potential in food and pharmacology.