Oil and Erucic Acid Content in Oilseed Crucifers

Abstract

Thefatty acid composition ofthe crucifer oil is genetically more variable than probably the composition of any other major vegetable oil (Matti, 1993). Palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, linolenic, eicosenoic and erucic acid are the major fatty acids present in the oil extracted from members of family Cruciferae. Fatty acids are formed by step-wise biosynthetic pathway in which oleic acid either undergoes decreasing saturation to form linoleic acid and then linolenic acid or there is further chain elongation to form eicosenoic acid and then to erucic acid. Crucifers, compared to other oilseed crops are quite unique for exhibiting very high proportion of erucic acid (anti-nutritional factor).