The Effects of cultivation area and altitude variation on the composition of fatty acids of Laurus nobilisL. berries in Nothern Turkey and Abkhazia

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine and compare the fatty acids contents of Laurel berries (Laurus nobilisL.) grown in Trabzon, Bartın, Samsun and Abkhazia. Fleshy parts of laurel berries and seeds were analyzed separately to reveal yields of fixed oils. Three altitude ranges were determined for the study and samples were collected from the ranges that can be found from these elevationswhere the altitude is 0-100m, 100-300m and 300-600m. Automatic extraction technique was used for getting fixed oil and the amount and the composition of the oil was identified by using GC-FID.The resultsshowed that the fixed oil yield of fleshy parts of berries ranged between 28.37% and 42.08%. The highest amount of fixed oil yield in fleshy part was obtained in Bartın (0-100 m). The fixed oil in of seeds ranged between 16.26% and 22.81%. The highest amount of fixed oil yield in seeds was obtained in Bartın (100-300 m). According to GC-FID results, oleic acid (27.06 % -48.93%) was the most abundant fatty acid, lauric acid (0.49% -1.35 %) was the least abundant fattyacid in the fleshy parts of laurel berries. In seeds, lauric acid was the most common fatty acid (32.37%-44.49%) and arachidic acid (0.87%-1.17%) was the least fatty acid. According to results, it is thus deduced that, the amount and content of fixed is affected by cultivation area, altitude variationand the parts of laurel berry