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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Griffin, Georgia » Plant Genetic Resources Conservation Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #282913

Title: Seed oil and fatty acid composition in Capsicum spp

Author
item Jarret, Robert - Bob
item LEVY, IRVIN - Gordon College
item Potter, Thomas
item Cermak, Steven - Steve

Submitted to: Journal of Food Composition and Analysis
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/11/2013
Publication Date: 6/18/2013
Citation: Jarret, R.L., Levy, I.J., Potter, T.L., Cermak, S.C. 2013. Seed oil and fatty acid composition in Capsicum spp. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. 30(2):102-108.

Interpretive Summary: We investigated the oil content and examined the principle fatty acids in seeds of various species and forms of pepper (Capsicum) present in the USDA/ARS pepper germplasm collection in Griffin, GA. Examples of the commonly cultivates species as well as wild related species were included. The range in seed oil content among all the species examined was 10.9% to 32.8% with a mean of about 24%. Differences in the average seed oil content of the different species were detected. Seed oil content in C. annuum, the common garden pepper, was the highest among the species examined. Linoleic acid was the major fatty acid in seed of all the species examined. The fatty acid composition of the commonly cultivated species and forms was very similar to the composition of the seed of the wild related species.

Technical Abstract: The oil content and fatty acid composition of seed of 233 genebank accessions (total) of nine Capsicum species, and a single accession of Tubocapsicum anomalum, were determined. The physicochemical characteristics of oil extracted from seed of C. annuum and C. baccatum were also examined. Significant differences among mean values for seed oil content were detected among the cultivated Capsicum species (C. annuum, C. baccatum, C. chinense, C. frutescens and C. pubescens). Oil content in seed of C. annuum var. annuum was significantly greater than that in seed of other cultivated species. Capsicum pubescens had the lowest average seed oil content. Among the non-cultivated taxa examined, seed of C. galapagoense had the lowest oil content and T. anomalum the highest. Averages across the 5 cultivated taxa for the 4 principle fatty acids were 12.9%, 3.4%, 6.7% and 76.0% for C16:0 (palmitic), C18:0 (stearic), C18:1 (oleic) and C18:2 (linoleic), respectively. Significant differences were detected among seed of the cultivated species for concentrations of individual fatty acids. Linoleic acid was the principle fatty acid in all samples, with a high value of 81% in Capsicum chinense. Capsicum frutescens had the lowest percentage of total unsaturated fatty acids and Tubocapsicum anomalum the highest. In general, the oil content and fatty acid composition of seed of the wild taxa were similar to those of the cultivated species.