Journal of Krishi Vigyan

Hull-less pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo subspp pepo var styrica) seeds have a high pharmaceutical value and consumed as snack seeds. It is newly added member in Cucurbita spp, as being evolved by natural single recessive mutation in the 19^th century. It is notable for high seed oil content and the absence of hard seed coat have smoothened the process of oil extraction. Its seeds and seed oil are rich in fatty acid content. In present experiment, 46 advance breeding lines of hull less seeded pumpkin were characterized to assess fatty acid content. Four predominant fatty acids found in oil of 46 pumpkin genotypes in variable range were oleic acid (22.9-50.1%), stearic acid (2.2-5.5%), palmitic acid (6.6-14.70%) and linoleic acid (34.3-48.3%) and all together made (79.50-99.80%) of total fatty acid content. The pumpkin seed oil contained 15.04% saturated fatty acids (palmitic and stearic acid) and 82.93% unsaturated fatty acids (linoleic and oleic acid). Among 46 genotypes, PWT-22(50.1%), PWT 14(48.3%) and PWT-41 (5.5% and 14.76%) were highest in oleic acid, linoleic acid, stearic acidand palmitic acid respectively.