Physical, chemical and bioactive properties of onion (Allium cepa L.) seed and seed oil

Authors

  • Hasan Yalcin
  • Hatice Kavuncuoglu

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5073/JABFQ.2014.087.013

Keywords:

Onion seed, fatty acid, bioactive properties

Abstract

Onion  (Allium cepa L.)  is one of the economically important vegetable crops grown in Turkey.  In this study, some physico-chemical and antioxidant properties, volatile compounds and fatty acid composition of ten different onion seeds were investigated. The fatty acid composition and volatile compounds were analyzed by Gas Chromatography (GC) and Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), respectively. Physico-chemical analysis showed that onion seeds possessed high amount of oil (21.86%-25.86%) and crude protein (15.7%-26.1%). It was determined that moisture content of samples was in the range of 6.49-9.79%  while ash content was between 3.58-4.80%. GC results revealed that onion seed oil was rich in linoleic acid (49.42-60.66%) which was followed by oleic and palmitic acid,  respectively. The refractive index of seed oils was 1.4555-1.4771. There were a large number of substances such as hydrocarbon, alcohol, acid, ester and sulfur-containing compounds. It was determined that phenethyl alcohol and 1-hexanol were the most abundant volatile compounds in samples. It could be concluded that onion seeds can be utilized in food industry due to their physico-chemical properties and contents of oil and volatile components.

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Published

2014-04-28