Oil content and main constituents of cactus seed oils opuntia ficus indica of different origin in Morocco

This paper describes the chemical composition of 17 oil samples obtained from cactus seeds collected from five different origins in Morocco, the major producer of cactus seed oil. The oil content of the samples varied in a relatively small range between 5.4 g/100 g and 9.9 g/100 g. The main fatty acids of cactus seed oil are oleic acid (20.5 g/100 g) and linoleic acid (62.3 g/100 g) representing 80-84% of the total fatty acids. The main component of the tocopherol fraction is gamma-tocopherol (83-90%). It is followed by alpha-and deltatocopherol whereas beta-tocopherol is found in lower amount. In all samples beta-sitosterol was found as the main phytosterol (80.0% to 84.5%). This phytosterol is also typical for many other edible vegetable oil. This study, carried out on randomly selected samples, clearly demonstrates that origin does not have an effect on the chemical composition of cactus seed oil.