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Changes in Fatty Acid, Tocopherol and Xanthophyll Contents During the Development of Tunisian-Grown Pecan Nuts

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society

Abstract

Among oil compounds, fatty acids, tocopherols and xanthophylls (lutein and zeaxanthin) are of special interest due to their nutritional properties. The identification and quantification of these compounds in pecan nuts (Carya illinoinensis) could therefore be very useful to produce functional foods rich in compounds of this type. This paper reports studies on their accumulation and the effect of ripening on the content of these high value-added compounds. The total lipid content increased during the ripening. Saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids decreased significantly, whereas, monounsaturated fatty acids increased during the ripening of pecan nut fruit. Maximum levels of total tocopherol (279.53 mg/kg oil) and xanthophyll (6.18 mg/kg oil) were detected at 20th weeks after the flowering date. These amounts decreased gradually as ripening advances. The early stages of pecan ripening seem to have nutritional and pharmaceutical interests. These results may be useful for evaluating the pecan nut quality and determining the optimal period when the pecans accumulated the maximum of these nutritional and healthy compounds.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Tunisian Ministry for Higher Education and Scientific Research for its financial support for this research. Part of this work was carried out at the INRA ChemoSens platform (CSGA, INRA, Dijon, France). We also thank the members of INRGREF (Tunis, Tunisia).

Conflict of interest

The authors have declared no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Unité de Biochimie des Lipides, département de Biologie, Université de Tunis El Manar, 2092, Tunis, Tunisia

    Intidhar Bouali, Hajer Trabelsi, Ikram Bou Abdallah & Sadok Boukhchina

  2. Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation, UMR6265 CNRS, UMR1324 INRA, Université de Bourgogne, Agrosup Dijon, 21000, Dijon, France

    Lucy Martine, Stéphane Grégoire & Olivier Berdeaux

  3. Laboratoire d’Ecologie Forestière, Institut Nationale des recherches en Génie Rural, Eaux et Forêts, 2080, Ariana, Tunis, Tunisia

    Ali Albouchi & Ghaith Bouzaien

  4. Laboratoire d’Adaptation des Plantes aux Stress Abiotiques, Centre de Biotechnologie de Borj-Cédria, BP 901, 2050, Hammam-Lif, Tunis, Tunisia

    Mhemmed Gandour

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  1. Intidhar Bouali
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  2. Hajer Trabelsi
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Correspondence to Intidhar Bouali.

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Bouali, I., Trabelsi, H., Abdallah, I.B. et al. Changes in Fatty Acid, Tocopherol and Xanthophyll Contents During the Development of Tunisian-Grown Pecan Nuts. J Am Oil Chem Soc 90, 1869–1876 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-013-2340-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-013-2340-y

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