Etude des phytostérols et des acides gras de pistachia atlantica

Le genre Pistacia est représenté en Algérie par quatre espèces, en l’occurrence Pistacia lentiscus, Pistacia terebinthus, Pistacia vera et Pistacia atlantica. Le pistachier vrai (Pistacia vera) et le pistachier de l’atlas ou bétoum (Pistacia atlantica) sont caractérisés du point de vue écologique par une grande tolérance aux variations climatiques, ils peuvent croître sous des tranches pluviométriques assez faibles et s’accommodent de tous les sols. On extrait de leurs graines une excellente huile alimentaire. Si pour le pistachier vrai, les caractéristiques physiques et biochimiques sont connues, ce n’est pas le cas pour le pistachier de l’atlas. En effet les résultats d’analyses montrent que les graines de bétoum sont très riches en lipides avec une grande teneur en acides gras mono-insaturés et en phytostérols, teneurs comparables à celle de l’huile d’olive, qu’on commence à peine à entrevoir ses vertus thérapeutiques et nutritionnelles envers certaines pathologies

Effect of salt stress on growth and accumulation of proline and soluble sugars on plantlets of Pistacia atlantica Desf. subsp. atlantica used as rootstocks

The effect of salt stress on several physiological and biochemical parameters of plantlets Pistacia atlantica Desf. subsp. atlantica was studied under controlled conditions in a climatic room. The plants were grown in pots and irrigated with a Hoagland nutrient solution during 120 days. Then, the plantlets were treated for 10 days with 100, 200, and 400 meq·l-1 NaCl + CaCl2, added to the Hoagland nutrient solution. The applied salts caused stress on the young Pistacia plantlets by reducing the growth of roots and shoots. The amount of free proline in leaves increased significantly with salinity under all treatments, to reach a maximum rate at the highest salinity concentration (400 meq·l-1) for all the plantlets. On the other hand, a significant difference in relative water content (RWC) was noted under the effect of 400 meq·l-1 of NaCl + CaCl2. The plantlets stressed at 100 meq·l-1 did not exhibit any influence of the salt on RWC, but their accumulation of sugars was much higher than at 200 meq·l-1. At 400 meq·l-1 the plantlets also accumulated a high content of soluble sugars, and after seven days of stress, their accumulation rose with the increasing salt concentration. The content of proline and soluble sugars in P. atlantica subsp. atlantica rootstock was very high, indicating that P. atlantica subsp. atlantica can be used as rootstock for Pistacia vera as it is more tolerant to salinity

Fatty acid composition and antioxidant activity of Pistacia lentiscus L. fruit fatty oil from Algeria

The current study was carried out to investigate the chemical composition of Pistacia lentiscus fruit fatty oil by HPLC–DAD and GC analysis. The quantification of phenolic content and DPPH radical scavenging capacity of this oil were furthermore evaluated. The results showed that the oil has the highest phenolic content (810 mg GAE/kg oil). The capacity to scavenge DPPH radical was admissible (EC50 = 20.619 ± 0.312 mg/mL), compared to the butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) (0.012 ± 0.0001 mg/mL). The main fatty acids where oleic, palmitic, linoleic, palmitoleic and stearic acids which have specific carbon number and their values in percentage are C18:1 n-9 (50.02 ± 0.55%), C16:0 (24.83 ± 1.25%), C18:2 n-6 (17.24 ± 0.10%), C16:1 n-7(1.55 ± 0.09%) and C18:0 (1.08 ± 0.02%), respectively. The analyses showed concentrations of approximately 26% of saturated fatty acids, 52% of monounsaturated and 18% of polyunsaturated