<i>Quassia undulata</i> Oil Exploitation: Extraction’s Yield, Phytochemical Profile of Seeds and Oilcake Nutritional Value

Abstract

<i>Quassia undulata</i> is a plant that belongs to the Simaroubaceae family. In Africa, it occurs in the wooded savannah from Senegal in the west to the Central African Republic in the east. The seeds from the plant are very rich in oil. The traditional extraction of this oil involves a phase of boiling the powder from the seeds in a decoction of <i> Piliostigma thonningii</i> leaves. Thus, the aim of this study is to determine the impact of <i> Piliostigma thonningii</i> leaves on the extraction yield, to assess the phytochemical profile of seeds and oilcake and, to determine the nutritional value of the cakes obtained after extraction. Thus, the traditional extraction of oil was carried out in the laboratory and physico-chemical and phytochemical analyses were carried out on the water decoction, the oil and, the oilcake. The results showed that the traditional extraction gives a low extraction yield (5.18% with PD and 6.12% without PD) compared to the Soxhlet extraction (56.9%). On the other hand, it was found that oil obtained by traditional extraction in the presence of <i> Piliostigma thonningii</i> leaves was of better physicochemical quality. Finally, oilcake very rich in proteins (36.71% - 42.69%) and mineral elements (110.9 - 152.33 mg/100g of calcium, 544.75 - 620.77 mg/100g of Potassium and 331.11 - 459.68 mg/100g of Magnesium) justify their use in human food. However, investigations should point to the impact of this traditional technique on the elimination of quassinoids, toxins and antihelminth compounds present in the seeds.