Comparison Of Main Nutrient Components In Different Apricot Kernel Varieties

Study was carried on to grasp the nutritional content of Apricot kernel. 17 varieties of apricot being material, this experiment determined a series of indicators including Karyotype index, Kernel weight, Water content, protein, Sugar and Fat. Fatty acids and amino acids composition was analysed for several representative varieties. In addition, the contents of zinc, iron, magnesium, phosphorus of these varieties were determined. According to correlation analysis and principal component analysis, comprehensive evaluation and the conclusions were as follows:1. The crude fat content of apricot kernel was about 50%, followed by Soluble protein,sugar and water. Chaoren apricot kernel had the highest content of crude fat, Hu’anna apricot kernel showed a highest soluble protein content, the content of soluble sugar in Chuanzhihong apricot kernel and the water content in Shantian-2 were respectively the highest.2. Of the 4 varieties of apricot kernel, the top three content of amino acids were respectively lysine(10.62%), glutamic acid(6.01%) and aspartate(2.39%). Total amino acid content orders were Chuanzhihong > Chaoren > Shantian-2 > Shanku-2. The essential amino acid content orders were Chuanzhihong > Chaoren > Shanku-2 > Shantian-2. The ratio orders of essential amino acids to total amino acids were Shanku-2 > Shantian-2 Chuanzhihong >Chaoren. The 4 above apricot kernel protein was all high quality protein.3. The fatty acids in apricot kernel consisted of unsaturated fatty acids and saturated fatty acids. Oleic acid content was the highest and accounted for 75.36 percentage. Linoleic acid accounted for 18.63 percentage and ranked the second. Saturated fatty acids only represented about 6 % of total fatty acids. Orders of unsaturated fatty acids in the 3 varieties were Chuanzhihong > Chaoren > Shantian-2. The ratios of linoleic acid to saturated fatty acids were more than 2 indicating that apricot kernel oil was good edible oil.4. Mineral elements in the 3 varieties apricot kernel varied and showed a characteristic of Magnesium element > phosphorus element > zinc element > iron element.