P U B L I C A T I O N S CODON Italian Journal of Food Science, 2022; 34 (2): 67–73 ISSN 1120-1770 online, DOI 10.15586/ijfs.v34i2.2202 67 P U B L I C A T I O N S CODON Proximate analysis of lipid composition in Moroccan truffles and desert truffles Fatima Henkrar 1 *, Lahsen Khabar 2 * 1 Plant Biotechnology and Physiology Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences, University Mohammed V-Rabat, Morocco; 2 Botanical, Mycology and Environment Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences, University Mohammed V-Rabat, Morocco *Corresponding Authors: Fatima Henkrar, Plant Biotechnology and Physiology Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences, University Mohammed V-Rabat, Morocco. Email: f.henkrar@um5r.ac.ma; Lahsen Khabar, Botanical, Mycology and Environment Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences, University Mohammed V-Rabat, Morocco. Email: l.khabar@um5r.ac.ma Received: 18 March 2022; Accepted: 17 May 2022; Published: 10 June 2022 © 2022 Codon Publications OPEN ACCESS PAPER Abstract Lipid composition in trufe is essential for nutraceutical and medicinal purposes. Currently, there is no data regarding the lipid content in Moroccan trufes. Terefore, we determined the fatty acid and sterol composition of six Moroccan trufes and desert trufes. Te gas chromatography analysis revealed the predominance of fatty palmitic, oleic and linoleic acids. Te prominent sterol components were brassicasterol and ergosterol. Besides, the sterol analysis discriminated between the Tuber and Terfezia trufes. Tese diferences seem to be exploitable at a taxonomic level. Tis is a preliminary report disclosing the fatty acid and sterol composition of Moroccan truf- fes, indicating the potential use of lipids analysis, especially sterol analysis, as biomarker for trufes distinction. Keywords: desert trufes, discrimination, fatty acid, gas chromatography, Moroccan trufe, sterol Introduction Te trufes are edible ascocarp of hypogenous ascomyce- tes fungi that grow underground (Khabar et al. , 2001; Lee et al. , 2020). Te term ‘desert trufes’ is used to describe trufes growing particularly in arid and semi-arid areas (Khabar et al. , 2001; Morte et al. , 2021), such as Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria and Kuwait (Khabar, 2014; Lee et al. , 2020). Te genera found abundantly in those areas are Terfezia and Tirmania. Besides, other genera exist as well, namely Delastria and Picoa (Khabar, 2014). In Mediterranean countries, especially in North Africa, the trufes are harvested in abundance and known as ‘Terfass,’ also called ‘Kame,’ ‘Kholassi,’ ‘Zoubaïdi,’ ‘Trufes of the deserts’ and ‘Trufes of the sands’ because of their development in sandy soil (Khabar, 2014). Te determination of lipid composition in trufes is essen- tial both for lipid analysis as well as for nutraceutical and medicinal purposes. Te trufes contain only 4–9% by dry weight of total lipids (Tang et al., 2011). Fatty acids and phytosterols are the main lipid compounds in trufe fruiting bodies, which are well known for their potential human benefts. Several studies through global chromato- graphic analysis demonstrated that desert trufes are rich in fatty acids, both saturated and unsaturated that have many positive efects on health (Akyüz, 2013; Al-Shabibi et al., 1982; Bokhary et al., 1989; Doğan and Aydın, 2013; Veeraraghavan et al., 2021). For example, in Terfezia boud- ieri from Tunisia, Hamza et al. (2016) reported that essen- tial fatty acids, like linoleic and oleic acids, account for 76% of the total fat content. Linoleic acid or omega-6 is an essential fatty acid and one of the most aromatic com- pounds in most trufe species (Lee et al., 2020), which has protective and antioxidative efects benefcial for human health (Sokoła-Wysoczańska et al., 2018). While, oleic acid, a bioactive compound, has the aptitude in reduc- ing cholesterol levels (Lee et al., 2020). Another example of Terfezia claveryi from Saudi Arabia, which is closely related to T. boudieri (Dahham et al., 2018), was found to have arachidic, myristic, palmitic, behenic, pentadecanoic, stearic, heneicosanoic, nonadecanoic and margaric acids