PHYSIOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND FATTY ACID COMPOSITION OF AMYGDALUS SPINOSISSIMA SEED OIL FROM BALOCHISTAN

Amygdalus spinosissima also known as Prunus spinosissma belongs to the genus Prunus, its subgenus is Amygdalus. A. spinosissima is a wild thorny almond found in approximately 600 to 1500 metres above sea level. Due to its medicinal value it is used as traditional medicine all over the world. The objective of present work was to evaluate the physiochemical characteristics, total phenolic content and fatty acid composition of crude oil extracted from A. spinosissima. In this study physicochemical properties and free fatty acid value of seed oil were studied to evaluate the compositional quality of oil. The phenolic content of oil extract was found 15mg/L Gallic acid. Fatty acid composition has shown that it has high monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) oleic acid, C18:1 (61.8%) followed by palmitoleic acid, C16:1 (0.36%). The content of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) linoleic acid C18:2 was (23.32%) and saturated fatty acids, palmitic acid C16:0 was (8.19%), stearic acid, C18:0(2.07%), erucic acid, C22:0(0.21%) and myristic acid C14:0 (0.20%) were respectively. The results of the present study demonstrated that the seed oil of A. spinosissima is rich in oleic acid which may be a good potential source for industrial applications. Key words: Amygdalus spinosissima, seed oil, physiochemical, phenolic compounds, GC-FID fatty acid.