Chemical and nutritional studies on the seed oil of<i>Acacia arabica</i>

Abstract

The seeds of Acacia arabica contain 5.2% oil. Physicochemical constants and fatty acid composition of the refined seed oil were determined. The seed oil was rich in linoleic acid (39.2%) and oleic acid (32.8%). Trace quantities of epoxy and hydroxy fatty acids were present in the seed oil. Nutritional evaluation of the refined seed oil was done by rat bioassay with peanut oil as control. The animals fed 10% seed oil showed poor growth performance and low feed efficiency ratio. The digestibility of the seed oil was 90% compared to 94% for peanut oil. The seed oil in the diet of rats for 4 wk did not produce any abnormal serum lipids or histopathological findings.