Properties of Carica papaya L. (papaya) seed oil following extractions using solvent and aqueous enzymatic methods

The physico-chemical properties of oil from Carica papaya were determined following extraction with petroleum ether and aqueous-enzymatic methods. Four commercial enzymes were used for the enzymatic extraction, namely, Termamyl 120 L, Type L (alpha-Amylase), Neutrase((R)) 0.8 L (Neutral protease), Celluclast((R)) 1.5 L FG (Cellulase) and Pectinex((R)) Ultra SP-L (Pectinase). The melting point of the oil was 9.7-10.5C and showed that there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) between the oil obtained from enzyme and solvent extractions. Generally, the color of the oil was reddish yellow. Solvent-extracted oil tended to have more yellow and red color (24 Y + 4.0 R) compared to enzyme-extracted oil (20 Y + 3.0 R). The iodine and the saponification values of the solvent-extracted oil were found to be 66.0 and 154.7, respectively, while those of the enzyme extracted oil were 66.2-69.3 and 154.2-161.7, respectively. The unsaponifiable matter of the oil extracted using different enzymes ranged between 2.07 and 2.90% and were significantly different (P < 0.05) from that of the solvent-extracted oil (1.39%). The predominant fatty acid in the oil was oleic acid (72-78%), with some palmitic (12-14%), stearic (4-5%) and linoleic (2.5-3.5%) acids with no significant difference in fatty acid compositions between oil extracted using solvent and enzymes. The main triacylglycerols (TAGs) were sn-glycerol-oleate-oleateoleate (000) (43.5-45.5%) and 1-palmitoyl-dioleoyl glycerol (POO) + stearoyl-oleoyl-linoleoyl glycerol (SOL) (29.5-30.5%).