Chemical composition of Manihot catingae seeds

Abstract

Samples of Manihot catingae Ule seeds were collected in the Experimental Station of Instituto Agronômico, Campinas, State of São Paulo, Brazil, during two successive years. Seeds were analysed for protein, oil and fatty acids. On the average the seeds had 11.6% and 8.5% of oil and protein contents, respectively. The oil composition in fatty acids, was: palmitic 8.5%, stearic 1.3%, oleic 8.4%, linoleic 81.6%, and linolenic 0.3%. This fatty acid composition revealed the importance of this oil as a source of linoleic acid for analytical chemical purposes, which was isolated and used as substrate for the lipoxygenase enzyme.

Manihot catingae Ule; linoleic acid; oil; protein