Comparative Assessment of Lipid and Fatty Acids of Nine Crop Species During Plant Growth

The aim of the present work was to compare the lipid and fatty acid (FA) contents of nine different crops belonging to seven botanical families during their different growth stages. The compared plant species were: Carthamus tinctorius L. and Helianthus annuus L. (Fam. Asteraceae), Camelina sativa L. and Brassica campestris L. var. Oleifera (Fam. Brassicaceae), Chenopodium quinoa Willd. (Fam. Chenopodiaceae), Guizotia abyssinica Cass. (Fam. Compositae), Perilla frutescens L. (Fam. Lamiaceae), Salvia hispanica L. (Fam. Labiatae), and Linum usitatissimum L. (Fam. Linaceae). Overall, 134 samples of these green crops, which were collected in nine studies, at progressive morphological stages, from 2004 to 2013, have been used in this comparison. The lipid content ranged from 10 to 47 g/kg of DM. The FA values disclosed quantitative differences between the crops and the plant stages. All the samples were characterized by a high percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), such as linoleic (LA) and ?- linolenic acid (ALA). These two FAs, together with palmitic (PA), stearic (SA) and oleic acid (OA), were present in all of the examined crops during all of their growth stages. Further, ALA and LA were the most abundant FAs, and ranged from 309 to 649 and from 98 to 218 g/kg of total FA, respectively. Moreover, PA, SA and OA ranged from 85 to 133, from 8 to 116 and from 1 to 167 g/kg of total FA, respectively. These results allow us to identify the crop and growth stage that are the richest in terms of lipid and PUFA contents and therefore potentially more favorable for nutritional purposes.