Search for new industrial oils. IV

Summary Chemical screening of seed oils continues to reveal nature's diversity. This work provides leads to numerous species which warrant further research to investigate their oil and meal in greater detail, to appraise their crop potential, and to assess their practical value for providing new oilseeds. This is a laboratory of the Northern Utilization Research and Development Division, Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture.     

Compositional differences among crambe samples and between seed components

Data germane to the processing and utilization of crambe as a new oilseed include information on variations to be expected in gross composition of the seed (fruit) and its component parts. Seventy-five samples ofCrambe abyssinica Hochst. ex R. E. Fries from experimental plantings in 17 states have been analyzed. Samples as received contained 16 to 62% pod material (pericarp), the extremes representing samples with many seeds removed from the pod or with many pods containing no seed. The amount of pericarp was most often between 25 and 40%. Oil content of seed (without pericarp) ranged from 36 to 54%, with most samples between 40 and 48%; crude protein from 22 to 37%, usually 25 to 30%; and erucic acid in the oil from 39 to 60%, usually 53 to 59%. Total thioglucoside content in 30 samples ranged from 8 to 10% calculated asepi-progoitrin in oil-free meal, although 2 samples were between 4 and 5%. One sample was hand-separated into pericarp (40%) and seed, and the latter was further separated into seed coat (8%), cotyledon (82%) and hypocotyl (10%). The pericarp contained only 0.4% lipid and the respective seed fractions 17, 55 and 38%. Their corresponding protein contents were 4, 23, 23 and 34%; and their thioglucoside contents (oil-free meal), 0.1, 2.1, 10.9 and 13.0%. Cotyledon and hypocotyl were quite similar in amino acid composition. Neither contained hydroxylproline, which is in both pericarp and seed coat. Presented at AOCS meeting in Chicago, October 1964. No. Utiliz. Res. Dev. Div. ARS, USDA. Crops Research Division, ARS, USDA.     

Search for new industrial oils. VII

Seed oils from 37 plant species in 18 families have been analyzed for fatty acid composition by the isomerization method. The variability encountered is evidenced by the range in content of component acids: from 0–23% for apparent linolenic acid, from 8–74% for apparent linoleic acid, and from 2–88% for apparent oleic acid. Dimorphecolic acid has been found to the extent of approximately 60% in a second species ofDimorphotheca, D. pluvialis (L.) Moench, and in the closely related species,Osteospermum ecklonis (DC.) T. Norl.O. spinescens Thunb. contained instead 30% of a conjugated triene, presumably the same as the 8,10,12-octadecatrienoic reported from the relatedCalendula officinalis L. Oils rich in monoenoic acids are mostly in the Umbelliferae and Araliaceae and presumably contain petroselinic acid as well as oleic. Presented at the AOCS meeting in St. Louis, Mo., May 1–3, 1961. A laboratory of the Northern Utilization Research and Development Division, Agricultural Research Service, U.S.D.A. Agricultural Research Service, U.S.D.A.     

Fatty acid composition of maturingVernonia anthelmintica (L.) Willd. seeds. dihydroxyoleic acid—A possible precursor of epoxyoleic acid

Quantitative measurements of epoxyoleic acid and co-occurring fatty acids in maturingVernonia anthelmintica (L.) Willd. seeds were made to elucidate partially the mode of epoxyoleic biosynthesis. Free (+)threo-12,13-dihydroxy-cis-9-octadecenoic acid was the major component at an intermediate maturation stage, and is believed to be dehydrated to free epoxyoleic acid before incorporation into glycerides. Presented before the Division of Biological Chemistry, Am. Chem. Soc. meeting in St. Louis, Mo., 1961. A laboratory of the No. Utiliz. Res. & Dev. Div., ARS, U.S.D.A.