The Physicochemical characteristics and fatty acid profile of date palm Phoenix dactylifera (L) of Kech district Balochistan Pakistan.

Abstract

The present study was designed to estimate the physicochemical & fatty acid profile of date palm Phoenix dactylifera L. grown at kech District,Baluchistan.the obtained oil yield was 9.77% by the soxhlet extraction.the  fat content in date seed was 9.15%,protein 5.33%,crude fiber 6.89%,ash 1.13%,moisture 9.78% total carbohydrate content was 73.32% and refractive index was 1.449%.the chemical properties such as Acid value,Saponification value,Iodine value and peroxide value was 1.89%,187.83%,56.568% and 1.244 respectively.while the mineral analysis was done by using atomic absorption spectrophotometer and results indicate that potassium was the most abundant mineral (247.32%)followed by the magnesium (63.73%), phosphorus  (43.07%)and calcium was (38.89%).whereas the fatty acid composition of date seed oil shows that it was a oleic-lauric acid being the abundant fatty acid found in it followed by the linoleic,stearic and palmitic acid. The all results showed that date seed oil is an excellent nutritional source and it would also play a vital role in cosmetics and neutraceutical industries.