Changes in fatty acid, tocopherol and xanthophyll contents during the development of Tunisian-grown pecan nuts
2013
Bouali, Intidhar | Trabelsi, Hajer | Abdallah, Ikram Bou | Albouchi, Ali | Martine, Lucy | Grégoire, Stéphane | Bouzaien, Ghaith | Gandour, Mhemmed | Boukhchina, Sadok | Berdeaux, Olivier | Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation [Dijon] (CSGA) ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université de Bourgogne (UB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Tunis El Manar University [University of Tunis El Manar] [Tunisia] = Université de Tunis El Manar [Tunisie] = جامعة تونس المنار (ar) (UTM) | Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Département de Biologie, Unité de Biochimie des Lipides ; Tunis El Manar University [University of Tunis El Manar] [Tunisia] = Université de Tunis El Manar [Tunisie] = جامعة تونس المنار (ar) (UTM) | Laboratoire d’Ecologie Forestière ; Institut National de Recherche en Génie Rural Eaux et Forêts (INRGREF) ; Ecole Nationale du Génie Rural, des Eaux et des Forêts (ENGREF)-Institution de la Recherche et de l'Enseignement Supérieur Agricoles [Tunis] (IRESA)-Ecole Nationale du Génie Rural, des Eaux et des Forêts (ENGREF)-Institution de la Recherche et de l'Enseignement Supérieur Agricoles [Tunis] (IRESA) | Laboratoire d’Adaptation des Plantes aux Stress Abiotiques ; Centre de Biotechnologie de Borj Cédria (Hammam-Lif, Tunisie) | Tunisian Ministry for Higher Education and Scientific Research
Among oil compounds, fatty acids, tocopherols and xanthophylls (lutein and zeaxanthin) are of special interest due to their nutritional properties. The identification and quantification of these compounds in pecan nuts (Carya illinoinensis) could therefore be very useful to produce functional foods rich in compounds of this type. This paper reports studies on their accumulation and the effect of ripening on the content of these high value-added compounds. The total lipid content increased during the ripening. Saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids decreased significantly, whereas, monounsaturated fatty acids increased during the ripening of pecan nut fruit. Maximum levels of total tocopherol (279.53 mg/kg oil) and xanthophyll (6.18 mg/kg oil) were detected at 20th weeks after the flowering date. These amounts decreased gradually as ripening advances. The early stages of pecan ripening seem to have nutritional and pharmaceutical interests. These results may be useful for evaluating the pecan nut quality and determining the optimal period when the pecans accumulated the maximum of these nutritional and healthy compounds.
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