Determination of the Nutritional Characteristics of the Oil Extracted from Persian Oak Fruit

Oak treescover a vast area of Zagros forests. Acorn has numbers of nutritional characteristics and might be regarded as a good source of nutrition. The aim of this study is to describe the nutritional characteristics and physicochemical properties of acorn oil.
This research was carried out in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province. Fourteen trees were selected randomly, in different diameter classes in two groups of single stem trees and coppice shoots. Thirty acorns were harvested from each tree and dried in an oven at 80 °C for 2 days. The nutritional elements of the seed were measured and the oil was extracted by light petroleum ether employing soxhlet aparatus.
The results indicated that nitrogen was present at high concentration followed by some elements namely Potassium, Calcium, Iron and Manganese in respective decreasing order. The oil concentration of the fruit accounted for 8.56% and the fatty acid profile of the fatty acid of the oil indicated that the predominant fatty acid was the monounsaturated fatty acid (Oleic 49.4%) followed by polyunsaturated and saturated fatty acids in respective decreasing order.
Acorn of Persian Oak is important nutritionally and the oil contains an appreciable concentration of unsaturated fatty acids. Therefore, good management concerned with acorn harvesting and oil production might be required and essential.