Comparison of fatty acid composition in seed kernels of tea plant (Camellia sinensis), between conventional cultivars and albino cultivars

Abstract

Woody plants are important sources of edible oil, and the tea plant (Camellia sinensis) is a new option. In this study, the contents and composition of fatty acids in seed kernels of 10 conventional cultivars and 4 albino cultivars were analyzed and compared by GC-MS. A total of 22 fatty acids were identified. The main fatty acids were oleic acid (C18:1^Δ9) (9.1051–15.0670%), linoleic acid (C18:2^Δ9,12) (3.6386–7.7231%), and palmitic acid (C16:0) (2.3660–3.9445%), respectively. The ratio of saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and polyunsaturated fatty acids of albino cultivar “Zhonghuang 2” (ZH No.2) was 1.00:2.67:1.85, of which the proportion of MUFAs was significantly lower than those of most conventional cultivars and albino cultivar “Suyuhuang”. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the chemical constituents before the development and utilization of tea seeds, especially for albino cultivars. Furthermore, ZH No.2 could be chosen as parent for improving the fatty acid composition of tea seeds in the breeding project.

Keywords:

• fatty acid composition
• conventional cultivars
• albino cultivars
• tea seeds
• Camellia sinensis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

Conceptualization, Yali Chang; Methodology, Shuangjie Huang and Jinlei Luo; Software, Zhu Yao; Validation, Mufang Sun and Yi Chen; Investigation, Shuangjie Huang and Yao Zhu; Resources, Shuangfeng Jiang; Data Curation, Yuewei Li; Writing-Original Draft Preparation, Yuewei Li; Writing-Review & Editing, Yali Chang; Supervision, Mufang Sun; Project Administration, Yi Chen; Funding Acquisition, Guiyi Guo and Mufang Sun.

Supplementary data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/23311932.2023.2272464

Additional information

Funding

This work were financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2019YFD1001601) sub-project, the Science and Technology project of Henan Province (212102110117), the Key Scientific Research projects of Henan Province (20A210030, 20B210018), the Youth Fund projects of Xinyang Agriculture and Forestry University (2018LG006), and the Innovation Team of Tea Science and Technology of Xinyang Agriculture and Forestry University (XNKJTD-003).