African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12487

Full Length Research Paper

Localization and composition of seed oils of Crithmum maritimum L. (Apiaceae)

Abdallah Atia1*, Ahmed Debez2, Zouhaier Barhoumi1, Chedly Abdelly1 and Abderrazak Smaoui1
1Laboratoire d’Adaptation des Plantes aux Stress Abiotiques, Centre de Biotechnologie, Technopark of Borj Cedria, BP 901, Hammam-Lif, 2050, Tunisia. 2Institut für Botanik, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Herrenhäuser Str.2, D-30419 Hannover, Germany.
Email: [email protected]

  •  Accepted: 11 January 2010
  •  Published: 27 September 2010

Abstract

The use of some halophytes for rehabilitation of salt affected area has been reported. Crithmum maritimum L. halophyte and apiaceae can tolerate high levels of salt. Their seed was endospermic and had a suitable size for oil extraction. The aim of this report is to localize the lipids in the seed and determine their oils composition. The results showed that the lipids were accumulated in endosperm tissue as oil globoids. The percentage of oils was 44.4% dry weight basis. The C. maritimum L. seed oil was rich with oleic acid (78.6%), low level of palmitic acid (4.8%) and non negligible amount of linoleic acid (15.4%). This composition is similar to olive oil and canola oil. These results confirmed the good quality of C. maritimum L. seed oils.

 

Keys word: Halophytes; Crithmum maritimum L.; seed oils.