Fatty acid composition of the seed oils of selected Vicia L. taxa from Tunisia

Whole mature seeds of eight selected varieties, subspecies and accessions of three Vicia L. species grown in Tunisia were investigated for their fatty acid (FA) profile. The FA composition ranged from lauric (C12:0) to lignoceric (C24:0) acids. The total FA content was 1235.14 to 1580.34 mg 100 g(-1) dry matter (DM). Linoleic acid (C18:2 c9c12; 647.87 to 801.93 mg 100 g(-1) DM, i.e. >50% of total FA), oleic acid (C18:1 c9; 181.32 to 346.79 mg 100 g(-1) DM, i.e. 13.2 to 24.6% of total FA) and alpha-linolenic acid (C18:3 c9c12c15; 42.01 to 97.72 mg 100 g(-1) DM, i.e. 3.4 to 7.1% of total FA) were the most abundant unsaturated FA. Palmitic acid (C16:0; 189.86 to 281.07 mg 100 g(-1) DM, i.e. 15.4 to 17.8% of total FA) and stearic acid (C18:0; 24.35 to 52.75 mg 100 g(-1) DM, i.e. 2.0 to 4.0% of total FA) were the major saturated ones. The sum of all other FA did not exceed 3.0% of TFA, The favourable FA profile of the studied vetch seeds makes them interesting cheap diet components to be used in the nutrition of ruminants and non ruminants reared in the dryland agricultural regions of Mediterranean countries.