Abstract
The present study aims to evaluate the chemical composition of fatty acids, sterols, and tocopherols of unconventional vegetable oil extracted by maceration with hexane from the <em>Zizyphus lotus</em> almonds. The fruit of the <em>Zizyphus lotus</em> was collected during the month of September 2016 in the Khouribga region of Morocco. The extraction yield is of the order of 24%. Analysis of GC chromatograms shows that the oil consists of more than 80.5% unsaturated fatty acids or oleic acid (C18: 1, 66.28%) represent the major fatty acid, followed by the acid linoleic (C18: 2, 13.94%). GC analysis of the unsaponifiable fraction reveals the presence of β-sitosterol with a significant percentage of approximately 71.05% and the HPLC chromatogram analysis of tocopherols shows the presence of γ-tocopherol and ?-tocopherol respectively with a rate of 93.93 and 6.07% for a total tocopherol content of 97.3 mg/kg.
Highlights
The geographical situation of Morocco gives it a varied flora and an abundance in bioactive molecules, which find their applications in the therapeutic, cosmetic and food field.Several medicinal and aromatic plants are widely used in traditional Moroccan medicine for their beneficial properties
We find the Zizyphus lotus that is a Mediterranean species (Chevalier, 1947; Bellakhdar, 1997; Neffati et al, 1999)
Humidity level (H%): The moisture content of Zizyphus lotus almonds is calculated according to relation (1)
Summary
Several medicinal and aromatic plants are widely used in traditional Moroccan medicine for their beneficial properties. Among these plants, we find the Zizyphus lotus that is a Mediterranean species (Chevalier, 1947; Bellakhdar, 1997; Neffati et al, 1999). The fruits are spherical drupes whose bony cores, small and round, are covered with a semi-fleshy pulp, very quickly dry, rich in sugar (Desfontaines, 1829). The different parts of the Zizyphus have various uses, the leaves are browsed by the animals, the fruits are eaten by humans, the wood is used as fuel and the flowers are foraged by the bees to produce honey (El Hachimi et al, 2017). The fruit associated with honey is used for the treatment of diseases of the stomach and large intestine (Salhi et al, 2010; El Hassani et al, 2013)
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