Sacha inchi seed oil is a food matrix rich in bioactive constituents, mainly polyunsaturated fatty acids. In this study, the characteristics of color, carotenoid content, tocopherols, and volatile aroma compounds in eight sacha inchi seed (Plukenetia volubilis L.) oil accessions were evaluated. Results showed that the oil obtained from the accessions presented a lightness and chroma of 91 to 98 units and 6 to 10 units respectively, while the hue angle ranged between 93 to 97 units. The total carotenoid content in the different accessions ranged from 0.6 to 1.5 mg/kg, while γ- and δ-tocopherol ranged from 861.6 to 1142 mg/kg and 587 to 717.1 mg/kg. In addition, the total content of tocopherols varied between 1450 and 1856 mg/kg and the δ/γ ratio ranged between 0.58 and 0.70. The oils from the accessions PER000408 (861 µg/kg) and PER000411 (896 µg/kg) were those with the higher volatile concentration, especially 1-hepten-3-ol, 2-nonanol, (E)-3-hexen- 1-ol, (E)-2-hexenal, and 1-hexanol. In this study, the variability of the oil obtained from 8 accessions were observed, from which promising accessions can be selected for continuous investigations of the new sacha inchi seed genotypes.
Keywords: accessions; oils; sacha inchi seed; tocopherols; volatile compounds.