Abstract
Fruit-processing industries annually discard large volumes of fruit by-products. Thousands of tons of melon seeds could be recovered through the year from melon production. These seeds are an excellent source of vegetable oil with significant health-promoting properties due to their unsaturated fatty acid profile and high content of specific bioactive compounds. However, little information exists about the influence of melon cultivars and oil-extraction methods on oil characteristics. In this study, oils from nine different melon cultivars were evaluated. Additionally, two oil-extraction methods (screw and hydraulic press) were studied. Results showed that melon seeds may be used as a novel source of healthy oils. Higher-quality oils were obtained with the hydraulic press; however, low yields reduced industrial interest in this method. Oils extracted from the different cultivars showed high variability in the content of linoleic (51–69%) and oleic (15–34%) acids. Regarding vitamin E, γ-tocopherol was the main isoform found in melon-seed oils (99.81–456.73 mg/kg), followed by α- and δ-tocopherols. Significant concentrations of tocotrienols (α, β, and γ) were also found. Although all cultivars showed positive attributes, principal-component analysis (PCA) showed that Honey Dew and Blanco de Ribatejo could be specifically considered as a potential source of polyunsaturated oils with high concentrations of vitamin E.
Highlights
The melon fruit (Cucumis melo L.) belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family, and it is grown in tropical and subtropical regions of the world
Our results showed that significant differences appear in the concentration of tocopherol and tocotrienol forms, and in the total content of vitamin E
Melon-seed oil is proposed as a highly valuable product that can be obtained from the byproducts oil processing is proposed a highly product that canofbe obtained fromfatty the of theMelon-seed agroindustrial of as melons
Summary
The melon fruit (Cucumis melo L.) belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family, and it is grown in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Global melon production has continuously risen in the last decade, reaching the current annual production of about 31.2 × 106 tons. Melon processing in the industry generates large quantities of by-products that are usually discarded. Within those by-products, melon seeds account for 10% of total melon weight [1]. Melon seeds are not considered as waste in all regions of the world. In some Arabian countries, they are roasted and directly consumed [2], and in
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