Chemical characteristics of seed oil from wild prickly pear (Opuntiaficus indica) in eastern Morocco

Prickly pear cactus (Opuntia ficus indica), is a Cactaceae plant with a great economic relevance in the world. Nowadays, nopal cactus industry is active and rapidly expanding.In fact, the seeds oil sector is the best exploitation due to the high price of this oil. Moisture content, oxidative stability, quality index, total phenol, flavonoids, chlorophyll and carotenoid contentof prickly pear seed oil were analyzed.The seeds used in this study were provided by a cooperative DAR ATABIAA located in Chouihia (Eastern region of Morocco) during the harvesting season 2020. The samples were obtained from wild trees grown in this region. Results showed that moisture content of prickly pear seeds was 9.12%, whereas the acidity and peroxide index value was 1.11% and 4.44 meq O2/kg respectively, andan oxidative stabilityof 17.31 hours. The total phenolic and the flavonoid content values for theseseed oilsare 260.07 mg/kg and 65.99 mg/kg, respectively. Furthermore, the results show a carotenoid contentof 0.61 mg/kg and total chlorophyll of 1.52 mg/kg.