Determination of fatty acid composition of sesame(Sesamum indicum) seeds by Near-Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy

A methodological study was conducted to test the potential of near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) for the estimation of fatty acid composition and content in sesame seeds. A set of 3237 sesame lines, provided from the Rural Development Administration, were scanned by NIRS for their fatty acids. Calibration equations for the content of fatty acids were developed for the 122 lines of them by GC-FID(gas chromatography-flame ionization detector). Main fatty acids were palmitic acid(C16:0, 8.5%), stearic acid(C18:0, 5.7%), oleic acid(C18:1, 39.3%), linoleic acid(C18:2, 43.4%), and linolenic acid(C18:3, 0.4%); the lowest and highest level were IT028899-7.2% and IT169359-10.0% in palmitic acid and IT028897-4.5%, IT028910-7.0% in stearic acid, IT170020-32.2% and IT156371-46.5% in oleic acid, IT156348-36.5 and IT169926-49.6% in linoleic acid, and IT169316-0.2% and IT156367-0.6% in linolenic acid, respectively. Determination of the fatty acid composition of seeds could be carried out successfully by using the spectra patterns of NIRS for both oleic and linoleic acids. As a result, oleic acid and linoleic acid compositions(% of total fatty acid) ranged from 25.8% to 49.2% and from 21.7% to 52.2%, respectively, in sesame seeds. Correlation(r) between the percentage of oleic acid and linoleic acid was calculated in (-0.23).