NUTRIENT COMPOSITION OF SOME LESS-FAMILIAR OIL SEEDS

Seven less familiar oil seeds, namely gokhru, thumba, onion, tobacco, grape, niger seeds and mango seed kernels were analysed for their proximate composition, amino acid and fatty acid composition. Gokhru, niger, tobacco and onion seeds were found to be good sources of protein and fat. Crude fibre contents of thumba and grape seeds were high. The seeds of thumba, niger, onion and mango (seed kernel) contained 4 g lysine per 16 g N. The methionine content of onion-seed protein was very high. Fatty acid profiles of fat from these oil seeds revealed a high proportion of unsaturated fatty acids with the exception of gokhru.