Fat, Fatty Acids and Tocopherol Content of Several Walnut Genotypes

Abstract

There are seed propagated walnut (Juglans regia L.) populations with the vast genetic variation in different part of Turkey. There are also lots of monoecious and dichogamous genotypes in Turkey due to continuing sexual propagation. In this study, fruits of 19 selected walnut genotypes grown in Kahramanmaraş region were characterized based on their fat, fatty acid and tocopherol contents. The fatty acids content of genotypes were analyzed using Gas Chromatography. Tocopherol analyses such as alpha (α)-Tocopherol, gamma (γ) and beta (β) + delta (δ) were performed by HPLC technique. According to the total fat and fatty acid results, there were differences among genotypes on most of the fatty acids. Total fat ranged from 51.2 to 82.1%, stearic acid from 2.57 to 3.37%, myristic acid from 0.00 to 0.05%, palmitic acid from 6.42 to 7.92%, arachidic acid from 0.00 to 0.16%, linoleic acid from 53.23 to 63.62%, linolenic acid from 10.75 to 15.24%, oleic acid from 14.73 to 24.17% and palmitoleic acid from 0.00 to 0.16%, respectively. The same genotypes were evaluated based on their tocopherol content and (α)-Tocopherol, gamma (γ) and beta (β) + delta (δ) tocopherol were found between 23.47 and 38.04 μg/g, 161.09 and 292.56 μg/g and 16.93 and 32.34 μg/g, respectively.