Abstract
Annona squamosa
and
Catunaregam nilotica
seeds and oils were characterized for their approximate analysis and physico-chemical properties. The oil and protein contents were 26.8, 17.5 and 40.0, 22.2%, in
A. squamosa
and
C. nilotica
seeds, respectively. The oils were extracted using cold extraction (CE) and Soxhlet extraction (SE) methods. Fatty acids and tocopherols were determined by GC–MS and HPLC, respectively. Generally the physico-chemical properties and fatty acids were not significantly (
P
≤ 0.05) affected by the extraction methods. The major fatty acids of
A. squamosa
oil extracted by CE and SE were oleic 49.2 and 50.5%, linoleic 22.3 and 22.7%, palmitic 15.6 and 15.2%, and stearic 10.6 and 9.3%, respectively. While the major fatty acids in
C. nilotica
oil extracted by CE and SE were oleic 10.5, and 10.4%, linoleic 63.1 and 63.4%, palmitic 9.7 and 9.8% and stearic 5.1 and 5.4%, respectively. The tocopherol content of CE and SE extracted oils from
A. squamosa
amounted to 16.6 and 15.5 and from
C. nilotica
amounted to 110.5 and 107.7 mg/100 g oil, respectively, with delta-tocopherol as the predominant tocopherol in
A. squamosa
oil, and beta-tocopherol in
C. nilotica
oil. The total amount of amino acids was found to be 7.266 and 14.202 g/100 g protein, in seeds of
A. squamosa
and
C. nilotica,
respectively.