Biochemical Characteristics, Fatty Acid Profiles and Antioxidant Activities of Tea Seed Oil

India, the highest producer of the beverage tea (Camellia spp), is not yet self-sufficient on edible oil production. A large portion of oils from secondary sources remains unexploited, which also includes the potentiality of oil production originating from trees. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the possibility of tree-borne oilseeds like tea. The crude fat (oil) was extracted from the dried cotyledons of matured tea seeds of eight different bi-clonal tea seed stocks of Assam, which were commercially maintained for propagation purposes. The oil content ranged from 10.75% to 26.84%. Acid values, iodine values, saponification values and specific gravity of oil were found to be in the range 1.01–1.22 (mg KOH/g), 72.94–94.91 (gI₂/100g), 177.56–200.45 (mg KOH/g) and 0.82–0.88 g/cm³ respectively. The saturated and unsaturated fatty acids range in tea seed oil as determined by GC-MS was 2.21–20.3% and 79.97–97.79% respectively. The 50% 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging activity (IC50 values) of oils of different bi-clonal seed stocks ranged from 60.3 to 81.52 mg/ml. Identification of high level of oleic acid and linoleic acid in most of the tea seed stocks revealed better nutritional quality of tea seed oil. The present study indicates the future scope of tea seed oils as a commercial product in India.