Abstract:
Kernel oils of 25 almond (Prunus Aids) genotypes from Tunceli district (East Anatolia Region with cold climate conditions, Eastern Turkey) and Balikesir district (Aegean Region with hot climate conditions, Western Turkey) were analysed. Their oil content and fatty acid composition were regionally compared. Almond genotypes from Western and Eastern Turkey averagely contained 55.31-55.86% of oil, 6.48-6.29% of palmitic acid, 0.41-0.64% of palmitoleic acid, 1.76-1.60% of stearic acid, 72.02-76.41% of oleic acid and 18.92-14.71% of linoleic acid. Findings indicated that native almonds statistically differed in palmitoleic acid, oleic acid and linoleic acid contents based on growing ecologies. In addition, oleic acid content was inversely correlated with linoleic acid and palmitic acid contents.