Physiochemical and antioxidant properties of Fenugreek and Moringa Oleifera seed oils, a comparative study

Abstract

The current study focused on the extraction, physicochemical and oxidative characterization of fenugreek and Moringa seeds oils. The Moringa seeds (43.21%) produced significantly (P ≤ 0.05) more oil than fenugreek (5.58%). Fenugreek oil had significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher iodine (g/100 g oil) and saponification (mg KOH/g oil) values than Moringa seed oil (98.35 and 174.78, respectively), while acid and peroxide values were comparable. Furthermore, the viscosity of Moringa oil (71.55 Pa·s) was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher than that of fenugreek oil (63.18 Pa·s), while other physical properties such as refractive index and density were comparable. Moringa seed oil had significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher total phenols (39.17 mg GAE/g), total flavonoids (17.24 mg CE/g), and antioxidant activity (37.56%) than fenugreek oil. The phenolic components in both oils were examined using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In fenugreek seed oil, 20 chemical components were presumptively identified, such as 9, 12-octadecadienoic acid (Z, Z)-, methyl ester (41.23%), and 9-octadecenoic acid (Z), methyl ester (23.28%). While there were 21 phenolic compounds in Moringa seed oil, the predominant components included 9-octadecenoic acid (Z)-, methyl ester (41.21%) and docosanoic acid, methyl ester (18.45%). The Moringa seed oil outperformed fenugreek seed oil in terms of physico-chemical and oxidative qualities.