Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
The standard reference for the oil composition in sunflower is the
FAO's Codex Standards for Fats and Oils Derived from Edible Fats and
Oils. Table 8-1 shows a variable range due to differences in cultivars and
environmental influences in comparison to some other crop oils.
Traditional sunflower oil composition has a wide range of variation for
plant seed oils. It is the main oil (48%) consumed in Europe. However, the
trend is now to favor oil with high oleic (HO) acid content (HOAC) to prevent
heart diseases. This HO oil broadly mimics olive oil, which is a fruit oil,
although the cost is much lower. Other types of oil also exist for sunflower,
and this range of variation will be examined and the potential to grow this
crop with many oil compositions will be described.
Table 8-1
Average percent composition of sunflower oil in comparison to some other
crude seed and fruit oils.
Fatty acid C:
Traditional
Rapeseed/
Soybean
Safflower
Olive
High oleic
/others
Sunflower
Canola
virgin
Sunflower
Palmitic acid
5-8
2.5-7.0
8.0-13.5
5.3-8.0
7.5-20
2.6-5.0
16:0
Stearic acid
2-7
0.8-3.0
2.0-5.4
1.9-2.9
0.5-5.0
2.9-6.2
18:0
Oleic acid
14-40
51.0-70.0
17.7-28.0
8.4-21.3
55.0-83.0
75-90.7
18:1
Linoleic acid
48-74
15.0-30.0
49.8-59.0
67.8-83.2
3.5-21.0
2.1-17
18:2
Linolenic
0.1-0.8
5.0-14.0
5.0-11.0
<0.1
<0.9
< 0.3
18:3
20:0
< 0.5
0.1-4.5
0.3-0.6
0.2-0.4
<0.6
< 0.5
22:0
0.3-1.5
<2.0
<0.7
<1.0
<0.2
0.5-1.6
Tocopherols
440-1520
430-2680
600-3370
240-670
<4.5
450-1120
mg/kg
Phytosterols 2 4 0 0 - 5 0 0 0 4500-11300
1800-4500 2100-4600
<1000
1700-5200
mg/kg
8.1.1 Main Features of Lipids
Oil is composed of several lipids, the major component being triacylglycerols
(TAG), but tocopherols, sterols, phosphatides, and waxes are present in
small amounts and all are stored in the seeds. In the plant, their roles are to
protect the embryo from oxidative stress and to release available energy to
facilitate germination.
Oil composition has consequences on the uses of the oil, effects on health,
and prevention of heart diseases. For industrial purposes, the main source
of fat is animals. To compete with animal fats that are inexpensive, plant
fats should have technological advantages and specificities in composition
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