Determination of oil and fatty acids concentration in seeds of coastal halophytic Sueada aegyptica plant

Suaeda aegyptica (S. aegyptica) species belong to the Chenepodiaceae family، the second largest family in the world of plants kingdom. It is indigenous to arid and semi-arid regions of the world and salty coastal zones Persian Gulf of Iran. It is an annual succulent halophyte plant which is characterized by producing oily seeds، high growth rate and large number of biomass. The aim of this study was analysis and determination of oil and fatty acids concentration in the S. aegyptica seed.

The seeds of S. aegyptica were collected form coastal zones of Persian Gulf in Bushehr province، washed and dried. The fatty acids content of the dried seeds were extracted in n-hexane solvent by soxhellet apparatus. The residue of n-hexane in oily phase was evaporated by rotary evaporator and remaining oil was collected for fatty acids analysis. In the presence of potassium hydroxide and BF3 by refluxing for 30 minutes، the methyl ester derivative of fatty acids were produced. Then the resulted derivatives were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC-FID).

The seeds of S. aegyptica contains eight fatty acids as: Pelargonic (C9)، Capric (C10)، Undecylic (C11)، Tridecylic (C13)، Myristic (C14)، Palmitic (C16)، Stearic (C18)، Linoleic (18:2) and Linolenic (18:3). Average oil content in seeds 014/0 ± 87 / percent.

The ratio of unsaturated fatty acids was higher than the saturated ones. Linoleic and Palmitic acids are major unsaturated and saturated fatty acids of S. aegyptica seed respectively.