ABSTRACT

Quality properties of African breadfruit seeds oil were investigated. Solvent, freezing and thawing and centrifugation methods were separately used to extract oil from African breadfruit seeds. The physical properties, chemical, vitamin, mineral and fatty acid profile of the oil were analysed using standard analytical methods. Results showed that centrifuged oil had the highest oil yield (25.20%) whereas freezed and thawed oil had the lowest (18.02%). The physical properties ofthe extracted oil revealed that specific gravity ranged from 0.71 to 0.83 g/cm3, refractive index was within 1.26 to 1.51, smoke point ranged from 185.14 °C, flash point ranged from 184.48 to 199.33 °C, melting point ranged from 193.09 to 201.03 °C whereas moisture content was within 0.82 to 0.97 °C. Chemical analysis revealed the iodine value (15.02 to 16.3 Ig/lOOg), saponification value (192.28 to 210.08 mgKOH/g), acid value (0.77 to 1.12 mgKOH/g), free fatty acid (0.52 to 0.66 %) and peroxide value (4.35 to 4.82 mEq/kg) of the African breadfruit seeds oil. Results of vitamin analysis showed that provitamin A had 14.60 to 15.22 pg/lOOg, vitamin D ranged from 10.10 to 11.52 mg/lOOg, vitamin E ranged from 10.10 to 11.52 mg/lOOg while vitamin K ranged from 2.08 to 2.23 mg/100g. Mineral analysis revealed that iron ranged from 1.81 to 2.02 mg/100g whereas zinc ranged from 2.11 to 2.32 mg/lOOg. Fatty acid profile revealed that caproic ranged from 0.60 to 0.71 %, caprylic ranged from 10.01 to 10.22 %, capric ranged from 7.14 to 10.02 %, lauric ranged from 47.12 to 51.44 %, myristic ranged from 24.00 to 29.00, palmitic ranged from 5.95 to 15.00 %, stearic ranged from 5.51 to 12.04 %, oleic ranged from 5.31 to 7.05 % while linoleic was within 1.93 to 2.13 %. This research showed that high quality edible oil can be extracted from African bread fruit seeds oil using solvent, freezing and thawing and centrifugation methods.