The component acids of seed oils from 40 legumes and from 43 other species are reported. Attention is drawn to a series of Afzelia oils which provide a useful source of crepenynic acid and dehydrocrepenynic acid and to several Khaya and other oils of potential commercial value.

The mesocarp oil of the American oil palm is more unsaturated than that of the West African oil palm. Mesocarp oils obtained from F1 hybrids of these two oil palms exhibit an intermediate degree of unsaturation. Hybrid kernel oils are similar in composition to that of their West African oil palm parent, whereas kernel oils from the American oil palm are considerably more unsaturated and exhibit a unique fatty acid composition among seed fats of the Palmae family.

The fatty acid compositions are reported for seed oils of tropical origin.

Deterioration in quality of palm kernels manifests itself in the development of high acidities due to inadequate drying, kernel breakage, microbiological activity and insect attack ; also by the development of brown endosperms due to overheating either during fruit sterilisation or due to biological heating resulting from unsatisfactory storage conditions of both uncracked nuts and kernels. There are indications that the incidence of such quality deterioration will increase with increasing mechanisation of the industry in the producing territories unless care is taken. Ways in which the defects can be overcome are outlined. The development of brown endosperms is due to the Maillard reaction between free amino-groups of the proteins and sugars present in the kernels and results in the proteins being denatured. In severe browning, which produces oil-soluble melanoidins, there is evidence that these are produced from the reactions of protein amino-groups with a,P-unsaturated aldehydes resulting from the oxidative splitting of unsaturated fatty acids.

No abstract