Table 4.
Fatty acid profile (main groups and ratios) for saffron and its floral by-products
| Samples | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fatty acids (g/100 g total FAs) | SFL1 | SFL2 | Spanish Saffron | Iranian Saffron | Greek Saffron |
| Myristic acid (C14:0) | 1.41 ± 0.03 | 3.63 ± 2.19 | 1.51 ± 0.03 | 2.45 ± 1.38 | 2.82 ± 1.13 |
| Pentadecanoic acid (C15:0) | 0.18 ± 0.00 | 0.37 ± 0.24 | 0.12 ± 0.00 | 0.22 ± 0.11 | 0.21 ± 0.02 |
| Palmitic acid (C16:0) | 20.19 ± 0.08 | 20.19 ± 2.09 | 12.40 ± 0.25 | 14.19 ± 2.62 | 15.18 ± 0.21 |
| Stearic acid (C18:0) | 2.56 ± 0.04 | 3.15 ± 0.85 | 1.57 ± 0.03 | 0.85 ± 0.17 | 0.89 ± 0.02 |
| Behenic acid (C22:0) | 1.64 ± 0.06 | 1.12 ± 0.03 | 0.49 ± 0.01 | 0.73 ± 0.13 | 0.93 ± 0.01 |
| Lignoceric acid (C24:0) | 2.26 ± 0.06 | 1.01 ± 0.02 | 0.18 ± 0.00 | 0.54 ± 0.12 | 0.56 ± 0.00 |
| ∑ SFA | 28.55 ± 0.19ab | 29.64 ± 5.15a | 16.27 ± 0.33c | 18.98 ± 4.53bc | 20.70 ± 1.03ac |
| Hypogeic acid (C16:1n-9) | 0.61 ± 0.00 | 1.27 ± 0.87 | 0.35 ± 0.01 | 0.85 ± 0.24 | 0.87 ± 0.16 |
| Palmitoleic acid (C16:1n-7) | 1.69 ± 0.01 | 2.02 ± 0.55 | 0.30 ± 0.01 | 0.40 ± 0.06 | 0.40 ± 0.05 |
| Oleic acid (C18:1n-9) | 2.57 ± 0.05 | 2.13 ± 0.25 | 4.39 ± 0.09 | 5.51 ± 0.94 | 7.66 ± 0.17 |
| Vaccenic acid (C18:1n-7) | 1.52 ± 0.02 | 1.35 ± 0.13 | 2.88 ± 0.06 | 2.93 ± 0.52 | 4.00 ± 0.08 |
| Eicosanoic acid (C20:1n-9) | 11.04 ± 0.38 | 5.56 ± 0.17 | 5.23 ± 0.10 | 6.37 ± 1.31 | 7.92 ± 0.26 |
| Cis-14-tricosenoic acid (C23:1n-9) | 5.59 ± 0.03 | 2.24 ± 0.45 | 0.38 ± 0.01 | 0.91 ± 0.18 | 0.96 ± 0.01 |
| Erucic acid (C22:1n-9) | 1.26 ± 0.02 | 0.55 ± 0.20 | 0.28 ± 0.00 | 0.35 ± 0.08 | 0.29 ± 0.00 |
| Nervonic acid (C24:1n-9) | 0.84 ± 0.02 | 0.63 ± 0.01 | 0.47 ± 0.01 | 0.77 ± 0.16 | 0.59 ± 0.01 |
| ∑ MUFA | 25.13 ± 0.37a | 15.76 ± 2.22c | 14.28 ± 0.29c | 18.16 ± 3.39bc | 22.79 ± 0.18ab |
| Linoleic acid (C18:2n-6) | 35.12 ± 0.26 | 39.62 ± 2.83 | 35.76 ± 0.72 | 40.24 ± 7.20 | 45.43 ± 1.08 |
| γ-Linolenic acid (C18:3n-6) | nd | 7.16 ± 0.82 | 25.95 ± 0.52 | 12.94 ± 1.30 | nd |
| Eicosadienoic acid (C20:2n-6) | 0.25 ± 0.03 | 0.10 ± 0.03 | 0.36 ± 0.01 | 0.19 ± 0.07 | 0.43 ± 0.00 |
| Arachidonic acid (C20:4n-6) | nd | nd | 0.26 ± 0.00 | nd | 0.35 ± 0.06 |
| Docosadienoic acid (C22:2n-6) | 0.15 ± 0.00 | nd | 0.93 ± 0.02 | 0.59 ± 0.03 | 1.12 ± 0.04 |
| ∑ n-6 PUFA | 35.94 ± 0.23b | 47.12 ± 7.77ab | 63.26 ± 1.27a | 54.05 ± 10.13ab | 47.33 ± 1.19ab |
| α-Linolenic acid (C18:3n-3) | 9.28 ± 0.40 | 6.87 ± 0.68 | 5.77 ± 0.12 | 7.76 ± 1.38 | 8.50 ± 0.10 |
| Eicosatrienoic acid (C20:3n-3) | 0.28 ± 0.04 | 0.33 ± 0.11 | 0.23 ± 0.01 | 0.50 ± 0.08 | 0.39 ± 0.03 |
| ∑ n-3 PUFA | 10.38 ± 0.41a | 7.48 ± 0.39ab | 6.19 ± 0.12b | 8.80 ± 2.21ab | 9.18 ± 0.35ab |
| ∑ PUFA | 46.31 ± 0.18b | 54.60 ± 7.37ab | 69.45 ± 1.39a | 62.85 ± 7.92ab | 56.52 ± 0.85ab |
Means ± standard deviation in the same line followed by different lowercase letters indicate statistically significant differences at (p ≤ 0.05) for each sample (n = 3); nd: not detected; SFL1, SFL2: Saffron floral by-products from two different producers