Das, P.Sarmah, Kritideepan2019-06-202019-06-202017-07http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810109361Tea is one of the most popular beverages manufactured from the leaves or the young tender shoots of the tea plants, Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze. India, which is the highest producer of beverage tea, is not yet fully self sufficient in edible oil production. The present study was undertaken to study the potentiality of tree borne oilseeds like tea. The eight different bi-clonal tea seed stocks were collected, namely TS-378, TS-379, TS-462, TS-463, TS-464, TS-491, TS-506 and TS-520. The crude fat (oil) was extracted from the dried cotyledons of matured tea seeds. On dry weight basis, the oil percentage ranged from 10.75-26.84. The acid values, iodine values, saponification values and specific gravity of different bi-clonal seed stocks were found to be in the range of 1.01-1.22 (mgKOH/g), 72.94-94.91 (gI2/100g) ,177.56-200.45 (mgKOH/g) and 0.82-0.88g/cm3, respectively. The percentage of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in tea seed oil seven months and eight months after seed formation as determined by Gas chromatography ranged between 20.18-76.44 and 23.56-79.57 and 14.25-29.00 and 71.00-85.75 respectively. The percentage of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in tea seed oil eight months after seed formation as determined by GC-MS ranged between 2.21-20.3 and 79.97-97.79, respectively. The IC50 values of oils of different bi-clonal seed stocks ranged from 60.3-81.52 mg/ml. The seed cake percentage by weight of different bi-clonal seed stocks ranged from 73.16-89.24. The saponin (%) , nitrogen (%), phosphorus (µg/g), potassium (µg/g) and starch (%) of the seed cake ranged between 2.41-6.52, 1.19-2.93, 2.42-3.68,0.11-0.18,27 and 29-70.77, respectively. The soluble protein content (%) of different bi-clonal seed stocks at 1st, 3rd, 5th and 8th months after seed formation ranged between 2.51-6.41, 3.34-10.23, 5.09-13.87 and 5.41-14.48, respectively. The protein bands of different biclonal seed stocks at various developmental stages as detected by SDS-PAGE ranged between 20-66 kDa. The oil (%) and starch (%) recovery from bi-clonal tea seeds by fermentation process ranged from 0.73-1.75 and 10.19-27.98, respectively. The oil could not be extracted successfully by the mechanical method using mustard oil expeller. Among the tea stocks studied, the oil content was found to be higher after eight months of fruit set. Identification of higher level of oleic acid and linoleic acid in most of the tea seed stocks revealed better nutritional quality of tea seed oil. Among the eight tea seed stocks studied, TS-379 was found to be the best considering the highest amount of oil content (23.3 %- 26.84 %), higher unsaturated fatty acid (90>%) and IC50 value at the lower side. The present study indicated the future scope of tea seed oils and its cake to be exploited commercially in India.ennullThesis