Quantitative Relationships Between Nutrient Contents and Oil Quality of Sunflower Seed

Abstract

A study was carried out to examine the effect of nutrient contents, viz., nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc and manganese contents for their direct and indirect effects on seed oil and fatty acid concentrations using correlation and path coefficient analyses. Path coefficient analyses indicated that nitrogen content had the greatest direct effects (-0.6151) on seed oil concentration, Path coefficient analyses also indicated that manganese (0.4441), phosphorus (0.3289) and nitrogen contents (0.2853) had the primary influence on oleic acid concentration. Linoleic acid concentration was primarily influenced (negatively) by nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus contents (-0.3559, -0.2245,-0.2767, respectively) as indicated by path coefficient analyses. The highest indirect effects of nutrient contents on fatty acid concentrations were via potassium, followed by manganese and phosphorus contents.