Studies on changes in patterns of fatty acids, sterols and tocopherols of oil during seed maturation of oil crops. Part I. Sunflower seeds

The variation of lipid constituents in maturing sunflower oil seeds has been investigated with the aim of determination of the proper harvesting time as well as the oil quality. Marked variations in fatty acid, sterol and tocopherol constituents of the oil were observed. Capillary gas chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography were used in the analysis which enabled the determination of major as well as minor constituents in the oil. In addition, gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry was used to confirm the structure of cycloartenol sterol. Postulations on the key compounds of fatty acids, sterols, and tocopherols were proposed in the frame of the main biosynthetic pathways. The proper harvesting time was found to be 118 days after plantation since the oil content was high and the constituents of the oil were balanced.