Evaluation of oil content, fatty acid composition and physicochemical characteristics of some of Echium amoenum Fisch. accessions

Echium amoenum Fisch. is a perennial medicinal plant belonging to family Boraginaceae. Due to low information related to the seed oil of Echium amoenum Fisch., aim of the study was to determine and comparison of eight different accessions for 1000 seed weight, composition and content of fatty acids of the seed oil and determining the affinities of the accessions with regard to the seed oil yield. Some physicochemical characteristics of the oil were also measured. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete blocks design with three replications. Seed oil was extracted by soxhlet apparatus and the components were identified by GC/MS. For measuring the physicochemical characteristics of the oil including refractive index, acidity index, peroxide value, iodine value, saponification value, humidity, chlorophyll content and pH, standard methods of AOCS were used. Seven fatty acids were detected in composition of the oils. Linolenic acid, linoleic acid and oleic acid were identified as the main fatty acids. Acid gamma-linolenic was detected in oil analysis. No significant differences were recorded for 1000 seed weight and oil percentage at 95% level of probability while oil components showed significant differences. The farthest and the closest affinities were respectively recorded for (Esfahan and Rahim Abad) and (Zardband and Esfahan). Refractive index, acidity index, peroxide value, iodine value, saponification value, humidity, Chlorophyll content and pH were measured as follows, respectively: 1.47, 3.1 mg NaOH/g oil, 1.39 meq o¬2¬/1000 gr oil, 101.3 grI¬2/ 100gr oil, 163.02 mg KOH/g, 1.78%,16.9 mg Pheophytin/kg oil, and 5.8.