CHARACTERISTICS OF SEEDS AND SEED OILS OF SOME EGYPTIAN PUMPKIN CULTIVARS

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in pumpkin and its nutritional importance. This study was designed to shed light on the seed oils of four Egyptian pumpkin (Cucurbitamaschata) cultivars (Qina, Edwa, Kafr-Saad and Kafr-El-Battikh)as new sources for the production of oil.The study included the determination of gross chemical composition of pumpkin seeds and some physicochemical properties of pumpkin seed oils such as the refractive index, acid value, peroxide, saponification number and the iodine value. Total lipids of pumpkin seed oils were fractionatedbythin layer chromatography technique (TLC).Tocopherol contents and total phenolic compounds were determined by HPLC technique. The results indicated that pumpkin seeds consider a rich source of protein and oil which ranged from 30 to 31% and 33 to 36% (on wet weight basis), respectively. They also contained relatively high levels of minerals.The major lipid component was the triglycerides which constituted from 69.09 to 80.31% of the total lipids, while polar lipids constituted the minor proportion (0.89 to 1.41% of total lipids).The total unsaturated fatty acids in pumpkin seed oils ranged from 70 to 73% and consisted mainly of oleic and linoleic acids, while the total saturated fatty acids ranged from 26.66 to 27.96% and consisted mainly of palmitic acid (16.02 to 17.17%) followed stearic acid (8.97 to 10.50% of total fatty acids).Tocopherol contents of the studied pumpkin seed oils were 98, 67, 158 and 111 mg/100g oil, while the total phenolic compounds were 6.86, 35.20, 55.34 and 0.27mg/kg oil for Qina, Edwa, Kafr-Saad and Kafr-El-Batikh, respectively.