Lipid Classes, Fatty Acid Distributions and Triacylglycerol Molecular Species of Broad Beans (Vicia faba)

Abstract

AbstractSeed oils from four legume cultivars of Vicia faba, grown in Japan, were extracted and classified by thin‐layer chromatography (TLC) into eight fractions. The major lipid components were triacylglycerols (TAG: 48.8–50.1%) and phospholipids (PL: 47.5–50.5%), while hydrocarbons (HC), steryl esters (SE), free fatty acids (FFA), diacylglycerols (1,3‐ and 1,2‐DAG) and monoacylglycerols (MAG) were present in minor proportions (1.8–2.4%). All lipid samples had high amounts of total unsaturated FA, representing 79.7–82.8% and 77.6–79.7% for TAG and PL, respectively. Molecular species and FA distributions of TAG, isolated from the total lipids in the broad beans, were analyzed by a combination of argentation‐TLC and GC. Fourteen different molecular species were detected. With a few exceptions, the main TAG components were S2D (6.1–8.9%), SD2 (7.8–10.5%), SMT (6.3–8.5%), M2D (4.5–6.2%), MD2 (18.9–21.8%), D3 (21.0–23.9%) and MDT (8.1–10.2%) (where S, M, D, and T denote a saturated fatty acid, a monoene, a diene, and a triene, respectively). These results suggest that the lipid classes, FA distributions and TAG molecular species of broad beans are not dependent on the cultivation areas during the growing season.