Study of un-saturated fatty acids content in Ocimum basilicum L.

Background & Aim: Ocimum basilicum L. is belong to the Lamiaceae family which is cultivated as a culinary, industrial and medicinal plants in some countries from thousands years ago. The seed of this plant is rich in poly un-saturated fatty acids (PUFA) and produced a large amount of mucilage. Experimental: The oil of seed was extracted separately and converted to fatty acids methyl esters, and composition of fatty acids in seed oil was determined by Gas Chromatography. Results & Discussion: The results show that the highest content of total fat between (A.W.L.P.), (28.98 % of dw) in Ardabil (L.P.) and lowest (17.25 % of dw) in A.G.2 (W.P.). The highest Palmitic acid content is between (A.W.L.P.), (34.81 mol %) in Kermanshah (L.P.) and lowest (2.05 mol %) is in Kerman (L.P.). The highest Stearic acid content is between (A.W.L.P.), (7.56 mol %) in Ahwaz (L.P.) and lowest (1.42 mol %) in Ardabil (W.P.). The highest of Oleic acid between (A.W.L.P.), (22.81 mol %) in Ghom (L.P.) and lowest (11.10 mol %) in A.G.2 (W.P.). The highest Linoleic acid content between (A.W.L.P.), (25.60 mol %) in A.G.1 (L.P.) and lowest (15.55 mol %) in Kermanshah (L.P.). The highest amount of Linolenic acid between (A.W.L.P.), (53.89 mol %) in A.G.1 (W.P.) and lowest (28.08 mol %) in Kermanshah (L.P.). The results also definite clearly that the seed of O. basilicum populations have large amount of un-saturated fatty acids, mucilage and they have a few amount of saturated fatty acids.