Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T09:55:18.886Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Olea ferruginea Royle, Indian olive:an underutilised fruit tree crop of north-west Himalaya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2012

Suresh Joshi*
Affiliation:
G.B. Pant Inst. Himal. Environ. Dev., Garhwal Unit, Post Box 92, Srinagar-Garhwal, 246 174, Uttarakhand, India. [email protected]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Introduction. Olea ferruginea Royle, generally knownas Indian olive, grows widely in the Himalayas from Kashmir to Kumaun upto an altitude of 2400 m. It is a multipurpose, zero-waste, evergreentree species. It yields a number of useful items including qualityfodder, firewood and edible fruits. The leaves, bark, roots, fruitsand seeds of this plant are used for treatment of various diseases.The fruits are also a source of olive oil. However, to the bestof our knowledge, no study has been carried out to determine theolive oil contents of the fruits and seeds of O. ferruginea andthe quality of the oils. Materials and methods. Therefore, investigationswere undertaken to determine the olive oil contents and the qualityof the oils in the fruits and seeds in terms of fatty acid composition.Four populations of O. ferruginea (Kolibehar, Saioond and Kais fromthe Kullu district, and Thalaut from the Mandi district of HimachalPradesh) were selected as the sources of fruits and seeds. Resultsand discussion. The selected sites differed in respect to theirgeographical characteristics. The olive oil content was considerablyhigher in the fruits than in the seeds. The olive oil contents inthe fruits varied from 20.67% to 27.40%, with the Thalaut population exhibitingthe highest oil content. The olive oil content in the seeds variedfrom 7.5% to 12.5%; the oil content was the lowest in fruits ofthe Saioond population and the highest in the Thalaut population.In all the populations, monounsaturated oleic acid was predominant;oleic acid ranged from 61.6% to 66.9% in the fruit oil and 64.4%to 67.2% in the seed oil. Differences in the fatty acid compositionbetween the seed and fruit oils were also seen. Conclusion. Ourstudy suggests that the fruits of O. ferruginea may be a potentialsource of olive oil. Thus, sustainable use of this potential ofthe tree could be useful in the socio-economic development and environmental conservationof the areas where it grows.

Type
Original article
Copyright
© 2012 Cirad/EDP Sciences

References

Anon., The wealth of India, Vol. VII, CSIR, New-Delhi, India, 1997.
Bartolucci P., Dhakal B.R., Prospects for olive growing in Nepal, His Majesty’s Gov., Dep. Agric., Fruit Dev. Div., Olive Prod. Dev. & FAO, Kathmandu, Nepal, 1999.
Ahmad, H., Ahmad, A., Jan, M.M., The medicinal plants of Salt Range, J. Biol. Sci. 29 (2002) 175177.Google Scholar
Zabihullah, Q., Rashid, A.Akhtar, N., Ethnobotanical survey in Kot Manzaray Baba valley Malakand agency, Pakistan, Pak. J. Plant Sci. 12 (2006) 115121.Google Scholar
Ahmad, S.S., Medicinal wild plants from Lahore-Islamabad motorway (M-2), Pak. J. Bot. 39 (2007) 355375.Google Scholar
Ahmad, S., Ali, A., Bibi, S., Marwat, K.B., Hassan, G., Ethnobotanical study on some medicinal plants of Ouch district lower Dir, Pakistan, Pak. J. Plant Sci. 12 (2006) 6571.Google Scholar
Hussain, F., Badshah, L.Dastagir, G., Folk medicinal uses of some plants of south Waziristan, Pakistan, Pak. J. Plant Sci. 12 (2006) 2739.Google Scholar
Martínez-González, M.A., Fernández-Jarne, E., Serrano-Martínez, M., Marti, A., Martinez, J.A., Martín-Moreno, J.M., Mediterranean diet and reduction in the risk of a first acute myocardial infection: An operational healthy dietary score, Eur. J. Nutr. 41 (2002) 153160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braun, L., Olive-leaf extract, J. Comp. Med. 4 (2005) 6973.Google Scholar
Gill, C.I., Boyd, A., McDermott, E., McCann, M., Servili, M., Selvaggini, R., Taticchi, A., Esposto, S., Montedoro, G.-F., McGlynn, H., Rowland, I., Potential anti-cancer effects of virgin olive oil phenols on colorectal carcinogenesis models in vitro, Int. J. Cancer 117 (2005) 17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sultana, N., Ata, A., Oleanolic acid and related derivatives as medicinally important compounds, J. Enzym. Inhib. Med. Chem. 23 (2008) 739756.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mather K., Statistical analysis in biology, Chapman & Hall, London, U.K., 1973.
Vossen, P., Olive oil: History, production and characteristics of the World’s classic oils, HortScience 42 (2007) 10931100.Google Scholar
Moussaoui, R., Labbaci, W., Hemar, N., Youyou, A., Amir, Y., Physico-chemical characteristics of oils extracted from three compartments of the olive fruit (pulp, endocarp and seed) of variety Chemlal cultivated in Kabylia (Algeria), J. Food Agric. Environ. 6 (2008) 5255.Google Scholar
Sedgley M., Wild olive selection for quality oil production, Rural Ind. Res. Dev. Corp., Kingston Act, Aust., 2000.
Kiritsakis A.K., Olive oil, Am. Oil Chem. Soc., Champaign, Ill., U.S.A., 1991.
Lavee, S., Wodner, M., The effect of growing region, maturation and fruit handling on oil quality of cv. Nabali olives in the West Bank mountains, Agric. Mediterr. 125 (1995) 395403.Google Scholar
Salvador, M.D., Aranda, F., Fregapana, G., Influence of fruit ripening on Cornicabra virgin olive oil quality: A study of four successive crop seasons, Food Chem. 73 (2001) 4353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Issaoui, M., Dabbou, S., Echbili, A., Rjiba, I., Gazzah, N., Trigui, A., Hammami, M., Biochemical characterization of some Tunisian virgin olive oils obtained from different cultivars growing in Sfax National Collection, J. Food Agric. Environ. 5 (2007) 1721. Google Scholar
Leon, L., Uceda, M., Jimenez, A., Martin, L.M., Rallo, L., Variability of fatty acid composition in olive (Olea europaea L.) progenies, Span. J. Agric. Res. 2 (2004) 353359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matson, F.M., Grundy, S.M., Comparison of effects of dietary saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids on plasma lipids and lipoproteins in man, J. Lipid Res. 26 (1985) 194202.Google Scholar
Bianchi, G., Vlahov, G., Composition of lipid classes in the morphologically different parts of olive fruit (Olea europaea L.), Fat Sci. Technol. 96 (1994) 7277.Google Scholar