FATTY ACID AND AMINO ACID COMPOSITIONS OF PILI FRUIT (CANARIUM OVATUM) KERNEL

Abstract

The pili fruit kernel, an under-utilized tropical African fruit kernel, was analyzed for its fatty acid and amino acid compositions. The result revealed a total unsaturated fatty acid composition of 69.45% and a total saturated fatty acid composition of 30.54% and with oleic acid (40.72 %) as the predominant unsaturated fatty acid and palmitic acid (25.76%) as the predominant saturated fatty acid. The result revealed a peroxide value of 9.4 + 0.02, iodine value of 54.12+ 0.26 and a saponification number of 132.81+ 0.33 of the oil. The result also revealed a total composition of 17 amino acids (excluding tryptophan) and with glutamic acid (10.61g/100g protein) and aspartic acid (8.66g/100g protein) as the predominant amino acids and cystine (0.99g/100g protein) as the most deficient amino acid. The total amino acid composition was 74.63g/100g protein and made up of 31.96g/100g of the essential amino acids (excluding tryptophan). This value represents 43.45% of the total amino acid composition of the pili kernel protein. The essential amino acids: lysine (5.10%), methionine+cystine (2.03%) and threonine (3.11%) were noted to have slightly lower but comparable values with their respective reference standard values. Valine (4.36%), leucine (6.81%), isoleucine (3.36%) and phenyalanine+tyrosine (7.19%) were noted to have higher values than their respective reference standard values. Thus, pili kernel can serve as a good source of essential fatty acids and amino acids to consumers. Keywords: Pili kernel, Fatty acid, Amino acid, POV, Protein