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Oilseeds – Biogeographical Effects on Composition in Relation to Sustainable Use 

Supercritical fluid CO₂ extraction of seed fats

This project is one of a series in the theme 'Genetics and Chemical Traits'.

Seed reserves contribute to plant fitness in numerous ways, particularly via germination temperature which is an important agent for selection of the relative proportions of fatty acids and their melting properties. Seed oils are also an important source of calorific intake in humans across the world, attracting the attention of both conventional plant breeders and indigenous knowledge practitioners. We can hypothesise that seeds of tropical species will have oils with greater levels of saturated fats than those from temperate regions. Moreover, at a practical seed testing level, seed oils also determine which temperature is recommended for moisture content determination, lower temperatures being preferred for high oil content seeds. We are investigating variations in seed oil content and composition both within and across species boundaries in relation to  biogeography and to the accuracy of moisture determination. We are using the latest ‘green chemistry’ method of isolating seed oils, i.e. supercritical fluid CO₂, followed by their subsequent compositional characterisation using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). Our findings on seeds of sustainable use locally in the drylands (e.g the SAFORGEN species) have potential longer-term implications for breeding / selection programmes, particularly within the African Tree Seed Centres with whom we collaborate across Africa (see Darwin initiative Research Exercise on Community Tree Seeds – DIRECTS). See Annex 1 for papers that emanate from this project.

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