Fatty acid and triacylglycerol compositions of milk thistle seeds growing wild in Tunisia (Silybum marianum L.)

The milk thistle plant grows in many regions in Tunisia; however, there is no literature regarding their oil composition. In this study, oil content, fatty acids and triacylglycerols compositions of milk thistle seeds growing wild in Tunisia were determined. The oil content was 30.5%, thus milk thistle seeds could be exploited as natural new source of oil. Among the fatty acids, linoleic acid had the highest percentage (59.98%) followed by oleic acid (21.26%) and palmitic acid (12.74%). The extracted oil from milk thistle seeds is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (60.37%). Various molecular species of TAGs were detected and the major forms were LLL (22.30%), OLL (20.40%), PLL (17.31%), POL (14.30%), and OOL (7.90%). It can be concluded that milk thistle seed oil has a characteristic TAG pattern as compared with these elucidated for olive oil and soybean oil.