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Faculty of Technology, University of Banja Luka , Banja Luka , Bosnia and Herzegovina
Faculty of Technology, University of Banja Luka , Banja Luka , Bosnia and Herzegovina
Faculty of Technology, University of Banja Luka , Banja Luka , Bosnia and Herzegovina
Faculty of Technology, University of Banja Luka , Banja Luka , Bosnia and Herzegovina
Apricot (Prunus armeniaca) is a continental stone fruit that belongs to the Rosaceae family. The aim of this work was to determine the chemical properties of shelled and unshelled apricot seeds, as well as the physico-chemical and antioxidant characteristics of the oils obtained from these seeds. The content of moisture, crude ash, crude protein and crude fat in unshelled apricot seeds amounted 4.79%; 2.60%; 21.31% and 47.72%, respectively, and the values for these parameters were not significantly different in relation to shelled apricot seeds where the following values were obtained: 5.02%; 2.53%; 22.06%; 51.79%, respectively. The content of potassium, magnesium, phosphorus and calcium, expressed in mg/100g, in unshelled and shelled apricot seeds were 618.86 and 567.04; 259.83 and 248.06; 144.28 and 136.26; 118.04 and 117.10, respectively. Unshelled apricot seeds contained more different fatty acids compared to shelled apricot seeds. The content of the two plentiful fatty acids, oleic and linoleic, was approximately equal. The density, refractive index at 20˚C, iodine number and saponification number of the unshelled apricot seed oil amounted 0.91 g/mL, 1.4701, 98.92 g I2/100g and 199.14 mg KOH/g, and were almost identical to the values obtained for the shelled seed oil. The acid level of unshelled apricot seed oil was 0.96 cm3 /100g, and it differed from that of unshelled apricot seed oil (1.47 cm3 /100g). Similar to the seed samples, the two most abundant fatty acids in oils were oleic (66.05% in unshelled seed oil and 68.37% in shelled seed oil) and linoleic (23.41% in unshelled seed oil and 23.65% in shelled seed oil). Both types of oils showed weak antioxidant activity with regard to DPPH and ABTS radicals, with the fact that the oil of shelled apricot seeds (IC50= 5757.58 mg/mL) showed slightly better antioxidant activity with regard to ABTS radical compared to unshelled apricot seed oil (IC50=6793.61 μg/mL), while with regard to the DPPH radical, unshelled apricot seed oil (IC50=43504.44 μg/mL) showed better antioxidant activity compared to shelled apricot seed oil (IC50=45637.5 μg/mL).
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