Abstract
Walnuts have high oil content in their kernels, and they have attracted considerable attention in the food, beverage, nutrient, and health fields because of their delicious taste and potential health benefits. Fatty acid profiles of kernels vary depending on walnuts species, ontogenic variations, and planting environments. To determine the key indicators that can be used to distinguish different walnuts using chemometric analyses, the fatty acid compositions and contents of 72 walnut samples were measured and evaluated. Three fatty acids, oleic acid (21.66%), linoleic acid (56.40%), and linolenic acid (10.50%), were the most common fatty acid components in the kernels. Palmitic acid and linolenic acid in kernels were found to be indicators to rank the walnuts into five levels. Three groups were identified based on of several chemometrics. Oleic acid in kernels was typical fatty acid that could be used to distinguish three walnut groups based on the results of discriminant analysis, while oleic acid and linoleic acid were key differential fatty acids on the discrimination of each group based on the result of orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis. This study provides information on how to classify walnuts from different geographical locations based on kernel fatty acid profiling and provides an approach to identify possible adulterations in walnuts on the markets. Moreover, the results are potentially relevant to quality assessments of walnuts.
Highlights
Academic Editor: Oscar NúñezJuglans regia L., commonly known as Persian walnut or English walnut, is an important woody oil plant due to the high oil content in its kernels with huge economic gains [1,2].The trees are cultivated in wide regions across the world for their strong adaptation to a variety of climate and soil conditions [3,4], and they play a vital role in conserving soil and water [5]
3 n3 (C18):1 n9 in kernels was the typical fatty acid that could be used to distinguish three walnut groups based on the results of discriminant analysis (DA), while C18:1 n9 and C18:2 n6 were key differential fatty acids in the discrimination of each group based on the results of Orthogonal Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA)
Five main fatty acids in kernels of walnuts were determined among the 72 samples, and C18:1 n9, C18:2 n6, and C18:3 n3 were the dominating fatty acids in the kernels of walnuts
Summary
Academic Editor: Oscar NúñezJuglans regia L., commonly known as Persian walnut or English walnut, is an important woody oil plant due to the high oil content in its kernels with huge economic gains [1,2].The trees are cultivated in wide regions across the world for their strong adaptation to a variety of climate and soil conditions [3,4], and they play a vital role in conserving soil and water [5]. The edible walnut kernels consist of the embryo (meat) and a seed coat or pellicle [6], and they are rich in a variety of nutrient and bioactive constituents, including proteins [7], lipids [8], phenolic substances [9], phytosterols and squalene [10,11], and various fatty acids [12], and they demonstrate various therapeutic effects, such antioxidant [12], antimicrobial [13], antinociceptive, and anti-inflammatory potentials [11]. Disruption of the integrity of the seed coat pellicle during shelling operations triggers postharvest deterioration, and dry treatments including roasting have undesirable effects on the flavour, colour, fatty acid profile and bioactive components of kernel [2,6]. An effective measure to evaluate quality of kernel should be proposed
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