Abstract

Sea buckthorn is a valuable medicinal plant, cultivated and naturally grown in northern Pakistan. The plant produces berry with small hard seed in the centre. The seed is the source of all nutrients and phytochemcials. However, there is lack of literature regarding the biochemical and physico-chemical quality of the seed. Thisstudy consists of evaluation of the physiochemical parameters; elemental components, seed storage protein profile and anatomical structure of sea buckthorn ssp turkestanica seed. Results showed that ash content was 2.05%, moisture content 5.5%, thousand seed mass value 10.20 g; sodium 47.65 ppm, potassium 88.0 ppm, phosphorus 0.43 ppm, magnesium 758.0 ppm, calcium 912.0 ppm, zinc 96.50 ppm, iron 290.25 ppm and silver 3.10 ppm. Seed storage protein electrophoresis reveals the presence of only low molecular weight proteins. SEM analysis shows that seed was 4.3 mm long and 2.4 mm wide with 0.1 - 0.2 nm thicken seed coat. The study provides a good source of information of sea buckthorn seed of Pakistani origin and its potential for cultivation in various parts of the world.

Key words: Hippophae, physiochemical parameters, elements, seed storage proteins, anatomy.