Quantitative and qualitative characteristics of jojoba seed

Abstract

Data are presented on the composition of jojoba seed harvested from randomly selected individual plants (175 in 1973, 139 in 1974) of the native population at Aguanga, CA. Except for seed yield per plant, which was 2.7 times higher in 1974, wax, protein, and hull content of the seed, as well as fatty acid and alcohol composition of the wax, were not very different in the 2 years. A significant (P<0.01) positive correlation was found between seed wt and wax content of the seed. Highly significant (P<0.01) correlations were found in pairs of fatty acids and alcohols except where fatty acid 20∶1 was included. Comparison of data from 22 plants of known identity for the 2 years also showed no significant change in wax content and composition of the seed. By contrast, correlations for seed wt, protein, hull percent, and yield per plant for the same period were all nonsignificant.