TEMPERATURE AND MECHANICAL EXTRACTION EFFECT ON CHEMICAL COMPOSITIONS OF ARGANIA SPINOSA L SEED OIL OF EASTERN REGION OF MOROCCO

This study focuses on yields, chemical quality, composition, and the stability of the fatty acids of the oil extracted from Argania spinosa L seeds, collected from the eastern region of Morocco, influenced by the temperature of mechanical extraction methods. The results of this study revealed that A. spinosa is a rich source of oil. The obtained oil yields varied from 49,88 +/- 0.03 for the cold press to 55,62 +/- 0.06 for the hot press, the main fatty acids found in Argania spinosa are oleic acid by 37,218%+/- 0.05 for (cold press) and 37,26%+/- 0.18 (hot press) and linoleic acid 29,69%+/- 0.10 for (cold press) and 32,12% +/- 0.11 (hot press). The oil of Argan could be classified as an oleic acid. Among the tocopherols found, a high value of gamma-tocopherol has been detected in the cold press with 622,7 +/- 1,12 mg/kg, and the hot press with 610,01 +/- 3,33mg/kg. Our results revealed the effect of temperature, that when we increase the temperature used, the yields increase also, the findings shown also that this high temperature do not affect physico-chemical proprieties, fatty acids and tocopherols. The results of the present study reveal that the oil of A. spinosa could be used in cosmetics and pharmacological products.