The evaluation of lipids raw material resources with the fatty acid profile and morphological characteristics of Idesia polycarpa Maxim. var. vestita Diels fruit in harvesting

Idesia polycarpa Maxim. var. vestita Diels (further referred as I. polycarpa), belonging to Salicaceae family, is a perennial woody plant. I. polycarpa seed and fruit are well known to be rich in oils, what’s more it is considered to be an industrially valuable oilseed plant grown in the subtropical and temperate regions. The aim of this paper is to systematically study the lipid content, fatty acid profile of oil and morphological characteristics of the I. polycarpa fruit collected from various regions in China. The degree of the changes in oil content and fatty acid composition is also compared for its better industrial application as a source of linoleic acid. Our study found that the sum of the oil content of the pulp and the seed was not significantly different from the oil content of the entire fruit. The present work focuses on the integral use of I. polycarpa fruit. The morphological characteristics of fruits were systematically studied, including fruit shape index, fruit dry biomass, seed number per fruit, seed dry biomass, pulp dry biomass. Gas chromatograph with a mass detector (GC/MS) analysis of fatty acid composition of fruit, pulp and seed were carried out separately. At the same time, we also carried out a correlation analysis between climatic conditions, fruit morphological characteristics and fatty acid composition. The results showed the dry weight, the seed number per fruit, and the seed dry weight are positively correlated with the oil content. The oil content of the fruit from different regions ranged from 21.27 ± 0.83% to 39.47 ± 0.32%. In fruit oil, linoleic acid is the main fatty acid. The linoleic acid content in all regions is above 60%, which is not correlated with the size of the fruit. Our results indicated that I. polycarpa is a potential woody oil plant rich in linoleic acid, which has multiple industrial applications, such as the production of alkyne resin, shoe polish, and the preparation of conjugated linoleic acid as well as varnishes. The results of the study could help us to use targeted fruit collection during fruit ripening and guide us to use the fruit for developing industrial products preparation.