The aim of the current study was to investigate the variation in oil content, fatty acid composition, and physico-chemical characteristics of different accessions of linseed oil (Linum usitatissimum L.). Significant variations in fatty acid composition, oil content and physico-chemical properties were observed in linseed accessions, among them, unsaturated and saturated fatty acid compositions were ranged from 79.23–86.66% to 12.61–19.99%, respectively, in total fatty acid compositions. The highest content of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) was found to be major in BHU-A (53.39%) accession followed by BHU-B (53.14%) accessions, whereas the lowest one was found in the accession IC 564631 (38.07%). The current investigation found varying results for the physico-chemical characteristics of linseed oil, such as Iodine value (173.39–178.83 g Iodine/100 g), acid value (2.10–3.04 mg KOH/g), saponification value (192.16–193.49 mg KOH/g), peroxide value (1.52–2.12 meq/Kg), refractive index (1.471–1.472 RI at 40°C), and viscosity (23.37–27.95 at 40°C (cSt)). The findings of our current investigation revealed that linseed oil is a valuable source of ALA which could be potential applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Therefore, comparative and characterization analysis of different linseed accessions aids in selecting a good quality linseed oil and provides new breeding resources for linseed accessions.
Key words: Linseed, Fatty acid composition, Alpha-Linolenic acid, GC-FID
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