Short note Fatty acids, triglycerides, tocol, and sterol contents of oils of some Moringa seed varieties.

Three moringa oliefera varieties (MOMAX 3, ODC and PKM-1) seeds were used in this study. The oil was extracted from the seeds of ODC, PKM1 and MOMAX 3 moringa varieties by cold press (CP) and the solvent extraction (SE) method. Fatty acids, triglycerides, tocols (tocopherols and tocotrienols) and sterol contents of moringa seed oils obtained by two different methods were determined and compared with one another. The crude oil yield was between 26.46 - 28.19% in solvent extraction and 24.20 - 26.30% in the cold press method. It was determined that the main fatty acid in moringa seed oils (ODC, PKM1 and MOMAX 3) was Oleic acid (63.31 - 70.04%). Other dominant fatty acids were determined to be palmitic acid (16:0) (5.59-7.26%), stearic acid (18:0) (5.37-5.89%), oleic acid (18:1n9) (%63.31-70.04), arachidic acid (20:0) (2.67 - 3.71%) and behenic acid (22:0) (3.82 - 5.73%). It was determined that the main triglyceride in moringa seed oils was triolein (OOO; 35.63 - 36.50%), the main sterol was β-Sitosterol (39.04 - 42.11%) and the main tocopherol was α-tocopherol (15.88 - 18.91 µg/g). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]