Fatty Acid Composition And Physico-Chemical Properties Of Date Seeds Oils Of Three Fruits (Phoenix Dctylifera L) Produced In Ouargla Region

Abstract

Algeria considered as one of the major date producing countries. The production reaches up 468,000 tons annually, most of it consumed locally. The seeds or date stones which represent a relatively high yield are considered in most cases as waste and hence the present work was planned with the aim of making use to them and to study the possible economic and medicinal potentialities of this crop in Algeria. Three different date palm seeds (Phoenix dactylifera L.) cultivars, Deglet-Nour, Ghars and Tamdjouhert , originating from south eastern of Algeria (Ouargla region ), were analyzed, The oil contents of these seeds range 5.05 – 6.08%. all the seed oil studied were liquid at room temperature and the characteristics and constituents of the seed oils were determined, including physico-chemical properties, specific gravity, refractive index, saponification value, acid value and Iodine value. The analysis by gas chromatography of fatty acid methyl esters, shows that oils contains mainly fatty acids oleic, linoleic, palmitic and stearic,less fatty acid in the tale us fatty acid capric, lauric and myristic have also been detected. The amount of sterols has been determined by a simple spectrophotometric method