Annona squamosa L. is a small tree which grows wild in many places in the tropical regions, locally called “xwingle” in Benin. Its produces edible fruits, typically globular or heart-shaped which are highly appreciated and the seeds are not used. In the course of work about identifying new oil sources from a large number of oil bearing seeds grown in Benin, we report here on the chemical composition of seed oil (ASSO) and defatted cake (ASDC) of A. squamosa. Fatty acid composition, chemical properties of oil, unsaponifiable fraction, amino acids, lignocellulose and carbohydrates were analyzed by standard analytical procedures. Our objective is to update and to widen available data in order to check and confirm the interest of the seeds as a readily available by-product resulting of the consumption of the fruit pulp for human food. The extracted lipids (33.7%) were examined for fatty acid composition by gas chromatography. Linoleic (25.4%) and oleic (47.4%) acids were the main unsaturated fatty acids, while palmitic acid (12.6%) and stearic acid (11.6%) were the major saturated acids. The iodine value of 92 indicates that the seed oil is of non-drying type. The unsaponifiable matters (1.0wt-%) whose composition was not investigated previously especially for the sterol fraction found to contain -sitosterol (68.7wt-%) and the tocols (143ppm) with - and γ-tocopherol as major components (26.5 and 73.5wt-%). The defatted cake is rich in proteins (25.5g/100g), potassium (0.9%), and fibers (Van Soest; NDL 60.1%, ADF 34.7% and ADL 7.4%).

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