Chemical composition and biological activity of seed oil of amaranth varieties

Abstract

The work is devoted to study of seed oil composition of amaranth varieties: Kharkov, Lera, Andijan and Helios, acclimatized in Uzbekistan. We demonstrated the possibility of using reversed-phase HPLC using a refractometric detector, which allows simultaneous determination of squalene and triacylglycerides in plant seeds and determining the authenticity of amaranth oils. Established seed oiliness ranged from 6.39 to 7.81 % of the initial mass. Amaranth oil samples contained quite large amount of unsaturated fatty acids 72.72 – 73.28 %, 1.17 % of which is omega-3-alpha-linolenic acid. The squalene content in the seeds ranged from 0.35 % to 0.55 %. It was established that the squalene content in oils obtained by extraction is greater than the one obtained by cold pressing. In the triacylglyceride composition of the investigated cold-pressed and extracted oils, no significant differences were found.

Keywords

• Amaranth oil
• Fatty acids
• Refractometric detection
• Reversed-phase HPLC
• Squalene
• Triglycerides