Abstract
The fatty acid composition of the extracted oils from ten varieties of cowpea, eighteen varieties of limabean and two of soyabean were determined by gas-liquid chromatography. All the seeds, with the exception of soyabean, were poor sources of oil. The major fatty acids in the cowpea and limabean varieties were linoleic (C 18:2), palmitic (C 16:0) and linolenic (C 18:3) acids. In the soyabeans, linoleic and oleic (C 18:1) acids were the major fatty acids. Traces of gadoleic (C 20:1), erucic (C 22:1) and lignoceric (C 24:0) acids were obtained in Cowpea Kano 1696, Farv-13 and Nigeria B 7 and in limabean TPL 2 and TPL 187. Considerable variability was encountered among the different fatty acids in the different varieties of cowpea and limabean. This is indicated by the differences in fatty acid composition and the high coefficient of variation obtained for ether extract (28·6 and 46·2% in cowpea and limabean, respectively), lauric acid (100 and 50%, respectively), oleic acid (35·1 and 37·7%, respectively), myristic acid (30 and 30·8%, respectively) and behenic acid (39·4 and 30·4%, respectively). Some of these differences may be genetic.
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