Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/plefa Screening of some lesser known tree-borne oilseed plants from North-East India for their oil content and major fatty acid components Bithika Chaliha a,b , Lipika Lahkar b , Anjali Doley b , Rumi Kotoky b , Siddhartha P. Saikia b, ⁎ , Subhan C. Nath b a Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research, Chennai 600113, India b Medicinal Aromatic & Economic Plants Group, Biological Sciences and Technology Division, CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology, Jorhat, Assam, 785006, India ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Fatty acids Tocols Unsaponifiable matter SFA MUFA PUFA Taxonomic key ABSTRACT Forest of North-East India is rich in a variety of tree borne oilseeds and there were no serious efforts to exploit the less known oilseeds of the forest origin. Considering the vast plant wealth and with an objective to explore these untapped potentialities of oilseed resources of NE India, a research program was undertaken. The present communication is based on the investigation of seeds of 14 lesser known plant species for fats and oils. The screened plant species exhibited oil yield ranging from 4.71% to 48.43% on dry weight basis. Alseodaphne andersonii showed significant amount of tocols while Garcinia xanthochymus showed significant amount of phytosterol. Gas liquid chromatography analysis of methyl ester extracted fatty acid indicated dominant fraction of Oleic acid in 6 numbers of species, followed by Linoleic acid in 3 species, Lauric acid in 3 species, and Palmitic acid in 2 species. The majority of the species (9 species) showed higher amount of unsaturated fatty acid content in the oils which suggested that the species may serve as valuable raw materials for vegetable oil which can be explored as substitute for industrial feasibility while restshowed higher amount of saturated fatty acids which suggested that these species may serve as important industrial by-products. 1. Introduction Oilseeds and edible oils are two of the most sensitive essential commodities. India is fortunate in having a wide range of oilseed crops grown in its different agro climatic zones. The oilseeds of tree and forest origin, which grow mostly in tribal inhabited areas, are a significant source of oils. Indian production of oilseeds is almost stagnant at 8–9 million tons for the last five years and the ratio of production to con- sumption is also low. Therefore, it is necessary to screen oilseeds from tree borne origin to have serious introspection in this sector in order to make India self-sufficient in vegetable oils. Oilseeds are important sources of nutritional oils, industrial raw materials and nutraceuticals. The quality of edible oils is generally detected by the composition of fatty acid and several physico-chemical parameters. No oil from a single source can be suitable for all purposes thus the study of their constituents is important [1]. The major com- ponents of vegetable oils are triglycerides (glycerol and fatty acids) and others include mono and diacylglycerols, free fatty acids, phosphatides, sterols, tocopherols, fat-soluble vitamins etc. [2]. Fatty acids are both saturated (lauric, palmitic, myristic, stearic, arachidic, behenic, capric, etc.) and unsaturated (oleic, linoleic, linolenic). Unsaturated fatty acids are MUFA (includes ω-9) and PUFA (include ω-6 and ω-3). Linoleic acid is the most important of all ω-6 fatty acids, obtained with other group such as ALA or GLA. In dry skin Linoleic acid strengthens the lipid barrier of epidermis, protects against transepidermal loss of water and normalizes the skin metabolism. Linoleic acid is a natural component of sebum. Diet with increasing intake of linoleic and linolenic acid in- creases HDL-cholesterol and decreases LDL-cholesterol, while higher intake of oleic acid decreases LDL-cholesterol without affecting HDL- cholesterol levels [3]. Vegetable oils are the principal sources of linoleic http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.plefa.2017.08.014 Received 15 February 2017; Received in revised form 22 August 2017; Accepted 23 August 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: spsaikia@gmail.com (S.P. Saikia). Abbreviations: ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder; ALA, α- linolenic acid; DHA, docosahexaenoic acid; DWB, Dry Weight Basis; EFAs, Essential fatty acids; EFSA, The European Foods Safety Authority; EPA, Eicosapentaenoic acid; FA, Fatty acids; FAME, Fatty Acid Methyl Ester; FDA, Food and Drug Administration; GC-MS, Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry; GLA, γ-linolenic acid; HDL, High density lipoprotein; HPLC-FLD, High Performance Liquid Chromatography with fluorescence detection.; IPNI, The International Plant Names Index; Less Known, Seeds which are not exploited (with limited available literature & not collected in organized sector); LDL, Low density lipoprotein; MUFA, Monounsaturated fatty acids; PUFA, Polyunsaturated fatty acids; SFA, Saturated fatty acids; Unknown, No data available on oil content / fatty acid composition; WHO, World Health Organization; ω-3, Omega- 3 fatty acids (n-3); ω-6, Omega- 6 fatty acids (n-6); ω-9, Omega- 9 fatty acids (n-9); g, gram; m, metre; mg, milligram; μg/g, micrograms per gram Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids 126 (2017) 9–19 0952-3278/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. 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