Chemical characteristics of Moringa oleifera oil as affected by harvest dates and extraction methods

Abstract

Egypt has been suffering from a shortfall in the domestic production of vegetable oils for a long time. Moringa is a promising new alternate source for edible oil. The current research is aiming to evaluate chemical characteristics of Moringa oleifera oil as affected by different harvest-dates and extraction methods. Our study was carried out on three-year-old Moringa oleifera trees to add more information concerning the effect of harvest-date stages, where collecting fruit pods containing seeds after 60, 75, and 90 days from blooming in combination with different methods of extraction: warm press, cold press, and chemical solvent. Seed-oil yield of Moringa oleifera and its physical as well as chemical characteristics were evaluated. The main components of Moringa oleifera seed oil were analyzed and identified by GC-MS. The obtained results presented that on the 3rd harvest date (after 90 days from blooming) seed oil was markedly increased and seed oil was characterized by lower acid number and lower free-fatty acids. The chemical method (petroleum ether solvent) recorded the highest oil yield followed by the warm press and cold press methods, respectively. On the other hand, the cold press recorded rather high-quality features (very low acid number and free-fatty acids) followed by the warm press and petroleum ether solvent methods, respectively, and still acceptable in the case of warm-press for human consumption and suitable in the case of petroleum ether solvent for use in many industrial purposes. It could be concluded that harvest pods after 90 days from blooming in combination with oil extraction by cold press resulted in lower oil yield with rather high-quality features and excellent for human consumption.