Natural diversity in the carotene, tocochromanol and fatty acid composition of crude palm oil

Fabienne Morcillo (1, 2) , Virginie Vaissayre (1) , Julien Serret (1) , Sylvie Avallone (3) , Hubert Domonhédo (4) , Florence Jacob (5) , Stéphane Dussert (1)

1 UMR DIADE - Diversité, adaptation, développement des plantes
2 Cirad-BIOS - Département Systèmes Biologiques
3 UMR QualiSud - Démarche intégrée pour l'obtention d'aliments de qualité
4 CRA-PP - Centre de Recherches Agricoles sur les Plantes Pérennes
5 PalmElit

Crude palm oil (CPO) is extracted from the mesocarp of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) fruits. CPO is widely consumed in many African countries. Due to its high provitamin A carotenoid content, it is also widely used in programmes designed to prevent vitamin A deficiency. Elaeis guineensis occurs naturally across a wide geographical range in Africa. We investigated the carotene, tocochromanol (vitamin E) and fatty acid composition of a large set of genotypes representative of this genetic and geographic diversity. We found considerable intraspecific diversity in most lipid traits. Populations from Côte d'Ivoire were distinguished from other origins by their very low palmitate content and high tocochromanol content. Genotypes from Benin, Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria were characterized by high carotene contents. Finally, hybrids of crosses between genotypes from Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria produce CPO with exceptionally high provitamin A and vitamin E contents together with low palmitate content.

Mots clés: Vitamin E; Provitamin A; Palmitic acid; Oil palm; Red palm oil; Geographical origin

Domaines: Alimentation et Nutrition; Ingénierie des aliments

Fabienne Morcillo, Virginie Vaissayre, Julien Serret, Sylvie Avallone, Hubert Domonhédo, et al.. Natural diversity in the carotene, tocochromanol and fatty acid composition of crude palm oil. Food Chemistry, 2021, 365, pp.130638. ⟨10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.130638⟩. ⟨hal-03906079⟩