Morphometry, Oil Yield and Fatty Acid Profile of Cannabis Achenes from the Chefchaouen Region

Abstract

The achenes evaluated had average dimensions of 4. 242 ± 0. 329 mm long, 3. 38 ± 0. 294 mm wide, 2.75 ± 0. 227 mm thick. They contained an average moisture of 7. 614 ± 1. 623 and an average mass of 0.01808 ± 0. 0038 g. No significant differences in the yields of the oil obtained by hexane and press extraction (p-value>0. 05), they varied respectively from 31. 36 % ± 0. 05 to 36. 86 % ± 1. 79 and 21. 47% ± 2. 45 to 25. 04 % ± 0. 46. Among the fatty acids in the mechanically extracted vegetable oil from the five achene varieties, the order of abundance of the identified components was the same. The linoleic acids they account for more than 86 % of the total α-predominant fatty acids are linoleic and fatty acids. PUFA/SFA ratio ranged from 5. 5 ± 1. 58 to 8. 96 ± 0. 23. The n-6/n-3 ratio varied from 1. 53 ± 0. 02 to 1. 78 ± 0. 0. The quotients recorded in our study are likely to be of nutritional interest since a ratio between 1/1 and 2/1 is considered ideal.