Evaluation of Moringa (Moringa oliefera. Lam) Genotypes for Seed Oil Yield and Quality

A study was carried out at the Department of Vegetable Science, Horticultural College and Research Institute, Periyakulam,2022 in ten moringa genotypes to assess pod, seed characters, seed oil yield, and quality. In pod characters, among ten genotypes PKM MO-3 recorded the highest pod length (75 cm) & fresh pod weight (154 g), PKM MO 7 recorded the highest dry pod weight (37 g), PKM MO 2 recorded the highest pod girth (7.7 cm) and PKM MO 9 recorded the lowest pod length, fresh pod weight, Number of seeds per pod and pod yield per tree. In seed characters PKM MO 3 registered the highest seed length (0.92 cm), seed width(0.79cm), seed diameter(1.20cm) and PKM MO 10 recorded the lowest highest seed length (0.72 cm), seed width (0.64 cm) and seed diameter (0.96 cm). The moringa seed oil composition extracted with different methods such as the expeller pressed method, soxhlet extraction method, and Clevenger extraction method were compared. The oil yield obtained by expeller, soxhlet, and Clevenger was 27.84, 26.1, and 25.35 percent respectively. Also, specific gravity, density, viscosity, and refractive index were measured by different methods of oil extraction in ten genotypes. These results promoted the use of expeller expeller-pressed method for the extraction of high-quality moringa oil.