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Bulgaria has a very rich fungal flora due to its phytogeographical position. The screening of chemical content and active substances of mushrooms becomes an important subject not only for Bulgaria but also for all over the world. In the last decade, Analyses on phytochemical and biological activity of fungi have gradually increased as a result of improvement in the number and quality of facilities. In the scope of the present research, medicinal mushrooms; Craterellus tubaeformis was analyzed for fatty acid compositions by GC-FID, tocopherols by HPLC-fluorescence, and Oil content by Soxhlet. The ongoing research will lead to a new generation of foods, and will certainly promote their nutritional and medicinal use.

Biologically active components in lipids (fatty acids, phospholipids, sterols and tocopherols) from three varieties of Madia sativa seeds introduced in Bulgaria (BGR 457 and BGR 458 with German origin, and BGR 459 with US origin) were investigated. Glyceride oil in the seeds was found to be 36.6, 34.2 and 35.4%, respectively. Total phospholipid content was 2.4, 1.7 and 2.6% and the main classes were phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylethanolamine. The amount of sterols in the oil was 0.3% for all samples and the major component was β-sitosterol, followed by campesterol and stigmasterol. Total tocopherols in the oils were 768, 795 and 856 mg kg−1, respectively and α-tocopherol predominated (more than 70.0%). Fatty acid composition of triacylglycerols and sterol esters was also established. Main fatty acids in triacylglycerols were linoleic (47.5–50.5%), oleic (30.2–32.4%) and palmitic acids (13.0–13.5%). The content of saturated fatty acids (palmitic and stearic) in sterol esters (40.1–50.9%) was significantly higher than in triacylglycerols (18.3–19.4%).

The seeds of four accessions of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) from the collection of the Institute of Plant Genetic Resources, Sadovo, Bulgaria were analyzed for their chemical composition and a detailed study of their lipids was carried out. Chemical composition values were as follows: protein content ranged from 22.5 to 25.6%, starch 28.3 to 36.2%, fat 1.3 to 1.9%, insoluble fiber 1.7 to 3.0% and minerals 3.2 to 3.7%. The oil content was relatively low, but an extremely high content of biologically active compounds (tocopherols in the oils range from 3838 to 11,475 mg/kg, phospholipids 12.2 to 27.4%) was noted. In oils from seeds of cowpea palmitic (35.1–47.1%) and linoleic acid (21.7–30.9%) dominated, followed by linolenic (7.3–16.8%) and oleic acid (6.9–10.6%). The main component in sterols composition was stigmasterol (42.1–43.3%), followed by β-sitosterol (27.6–39.5%). In the tocopherol fraction of oils from seeds of cowpea the main component γ-tocopherol varied from 44.0 to 66.6%, followed by δ-tocopherol (30.3–52.8%). Phospholipids in oils and seeds of various accessions of cowpea had similar qualitative and quantitative composition. Phosphatidylcholine was predominant – 34.5–46.0% of total phospholipids.

The lipid composition of the seed oil of three varieties (L-74, VIR-11 and BGR-455) of Lallemantia iberica Fisch. & Mey. (Lamiaceae) harvested in Bulgaria was examined in detail. Triacylglycerols (TAG >90%), phospholipids ( 90%) in the tocopherol fraction. Palmitic acid (16:0) was the major fatty acid of the phospholipids and oleic acid (cis 9-18:1) dominated in the sterol ester fraction. The three varieties have similar lipid compositions with BGR-455 being slightly more saturated. Due to its composition, Lallemantia oil might compete successfully with flax and other plant oils as a source of linolenic fatty acid in industrial and dietary applications.

Psychrophilic yeast strains Rhodotorula glutinis AL107, Sporobolomyces roseus AL108, Cryptococcus albidus AL55, Cryptococcus laurentii AL56 and Cryptococcus laurentii AL58 isolated from soil sample taken from the region of the Bulgarien base on Livingston Island, Antarctica, were studied. The biomass production was followed after cultivation of the yeasts in a medium with pH 5.3 at 15°C for 120 h. The biomass concentration by psychrophilic yeast strains was: R. glutinis AL107-6.05 g/l, S. roseus AL108-5.78 g/l, Cr. albidus AL55, Cr. laurentii AL56 and Cr. laurentii AL58-6.52 g/l, 6.84 g/l and 6.24 g/l, respectively.The extracted and separated lipids from the samples were supplied to analysis and the compositions of fatty acids, phospholipids, sterols as well as tocopherols were determined. Unsaturated fatty acids, mainly oleic (58.6–63.5%) and of saturated palmitic (18.2–24.5%), predominated in triacylglycerols. Sterols (0.1–0.3%) were valued in the dry yeast biomass. The content of phospholipids,...

The seeds of three varieties of melon (Cucumis melo L.) from Bulgaria were analyzed for their chemical composition and a detailed study of their lipids was carried out. Chemical composition values were as follows: fat content ranged from 41.6 to 44.5%, protein 34.4 to 39.8%, crude fiber 4.5 to 8.5%, carbohydrates 8.2 to 12.7%, soluble sugars 3.7 to 4.2%, and minerals 4.6 to 5.1%. The content of sterols, phospholipids, and tocopherols in the oils was 0.6, 0.7–1.7%, and 435–828 mg/kg, respectively. The major fatty acid in lipids was linoleic (51.1–58.5%), followed by oleic acid (24.8–25.6%). The trilinolein (31.3–32.2%), oleo dilinolein (31.0–34.0%), and palmitoyl dilinolein (14.9–22.3%) have represented 80.0% from the total triglyceride composition of the melon seeds oil. β-Sitosterol predominated in both free and esterified sterols, being, respectively, 52.9–70.8 and 50.4–58.4%. Phosphatidylinositol (24.4–33.9%), phosphatidylcholine (23.0–33.1%), and phosphatidylethanolamine (8.4–17.1%) were the main phospholipids. Palmitic acid (34.4–61.7%) was the major fatty acid of the phospholipids, followed by oleic acid (8.9–27.2%). Linoleic acid (32.7–39.1%) was the main component among the fatty acids of the sterol esters, followed by oleic acid (25.1–30.7%). In the tocopherol fraction of melon seed oils, the main component γ-tocopherol varied from 71.4 to 91.5%.

Changes in the chemical and lipid composition of Cucurbita moschata seeds and seed oils at different stages of development were investigated. The oil content of the seeds at 30, 60 and 90 days after flowering was 10.7, 41.1, and 47.1%, respectively. The amount of proteins was 26.0, 35.9, and 38.2%. The contents of carbohydrates soluble in ethanol were 9.5, 1.8 and 1.3%. The starch and fiber percentage contents were 16.3, 6.8, 2.3 and 4.0, 6.9 and 10.0, respectively and the ash contents were 7.2, 4.7, and 4.5%. The total sterol percentages were found to be 2.0, 0.8 and 0.6 in the oils and 0.2, 0.3 and 0.3 in the seeds. The tocopherol contents were 2010, 512 and 527 mg·kg −1 in the oil, and 215, 210 and 250 mg·kg −1 in the seeds. The total phospholipid percentages were 8.7, 0.8 and 0.4 in the oils and 0.9, 0.3 and 0.2 in the seeds. Fatty acid composition was determined by gas chromatography and the major fatty acids in the oils at all stages of ripening were linoleic (40.8–50.2%) followed by palmitic (21.5–25.9%) and oleic (20.5–21.0%).