Fatty acid composition of certain oil seeds from Nigeria

Fatty acids of certain oil seeds from nigeria were determined by gas liquid chromatography and their identification was based on comparison by authentic samples. seeds studied in this study were aframomum danielli k. schum,arachidis hypogeal l.,glycine max l.,elaesis guineensis var. tenera,piper guineense thonn. ex schumach and treculia africana decne. ex trec. the fatty acid composition of the oil seeds showed that they (except e. guineensis) all contained more of unsaturated fatty acids ranging from 62.80% to 86.70% for p. guineense and a. hypogeal (l.),respectively. the oils with the exception of a. danielli (7.50%) and e. guineensis (3.30%) contained linoleic acid,which is an essential fatty acid with cholesterol-lowering activity in high amount in the range of 23.10% (a. hypogeae) to 34.10% (t. africana) with g. max,having the highest percentage of 56.40%. four of the oils also contained linolenic acid in the range of 1.20% for a. danielli to 21.60% for p. guineense.