ISHS Acta Horticulturae 492: I International Symposium on Cucurbits
DISTRIBUTION OF FATTY ACIDS AND VITAMIN E CONTENT IN PUMPKIN SEEDS (CUCURBITA PEPO L.) IN BREEDING LINES |
| Authors: | M. MURKOVIC, A. HILLEBRAND, S. DRAXL, W. PFANNHAUSER, J. WINKLER |
| Keywords: | Cucurbita pepo, pumpkin seed oil, vitamin E, fatty acids |
| Abstract:
Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) seed oil is a common salad oil which is produced in the southern parts of Austria, Slowenia and Hungary. The oil content of the pumpkin seed is about 40 – 50 %. The aim of this work was to find a variety of Cucurbita pepo which has a high oil yield with high vitamin E and linoleic acid content. 100 breeding lines were tested for their tocopherol and fatty acid content during three years.  -Tocopherol which is about 5 – 10 times as much as  -tocopherol varies over a broad range (41 – 620 mg/kg dry pumpkin seeds).  - and  -tocopherol are found at low levels.
The four dominant fatty acids are palmitic, stearic, oleic, and linoleic acid make up 98 % of the total fatty acids.
All other fatty acids found are well below 0.5 %. The content of linoleic acid depends on temperature during ripening of the fruits.
It increases significantly if the temperature is lower or the pumpkins are harvested later.
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