ABSTRACT
We investigate and compare the nutritional and physicochemical properties of rapeseed and sunflower grown in Morocco. In order to examine a complete physicochemical characterization, various parameters such as mineral profile, fatty acid composition, sterols contents, total flavonoids content (TFC), total polyphenols content (TPC), and quality oil parameters were evaluated. The results showed a relatively small difference in the physicochemical composition of the seeds, as sunflower seeds recorded higher amounts of protein and oil content (22.98 ± 0.01 g/100 g and 41.30 ± 0.50 g/100 g) than rapeseed (22.98 ± 0.01 and 38.80 ± 0.50), while mineral elements profile was observed to be statistically different. Nevertheless, both seeds were rich in K, Ca, P, Mg, and Na and they were relatively poor in Na, Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn. The most represented macroelement was K with the amount of 7936.53 ± 63.87 mg/Kg in rapeseed and 7739.22 ± 59.50 mg/Kg in sunflower. On the other hand, Cu was present in the analyzed samples the least, mostly below 20 mg/kg. For TPC and TFC, the sunflower recorded higher values (49.73 ± 0.50 and 25.37 ± 0.39 mg GAE/g) than rapeseed (38.49 ± 0.24 and 22.55 ± 1.76 mg QE/g). The fatty acid composition showed that both extracted oils have beneficial proprieties, as they are rich in unsaturated fatty acids; namely, rapeseed oil contains a high level of oleic acid (C18 : 1) (62.19%), while sunflower oil was richer in linoleic acid (C18 : 2) (55.7%). As a result, we conclude that the studied varieties have major importance in terms of both nutritional and seed improvement potentials.