The influence of environment upon the composition of sunflower seed oils. I.—Individual varieties of sunflowers grown in different parts of Africa

Abstract

Sunflowers grown from named varieties of seed in Southern Rhodesia, Kenya and Tanganyika give seed oils of somewhat varying composition, but the seed oils from all varieties grown in any one location are practically identical in composition. Similarly, sunflower seed oils grown in three different parts of Zanzibar from two sorts of seeds (black and cream) are widely different in composition; here the oils from black seeds were somewhat more unsaturated than those from the cream seeds, but the main difference again is connected with the place of growth and, more specifically, seems to be connected with the rate of development of the seed. Seed harvested only two months after planting gave oils of extremely low unsaturation which, indeed, were not dissimilar from groundnut oils in linoleic acid content. The component glycerides of the least unsaturated oil (iodine value 94.7) have been determined.