Lupinus angustifolius L. cultivar “Boregine” from South of Bulgaria: a source of nutrients and natural biologically active components

Nowadays, the requirements of new sources of natural food components are constantly expanding worldwide. On one hand, the constituents derived from the common agriculture plants satisfy the needs of the body to function properly. On the other hand, the price of producing ordinary foods is gradually increasing. For that reason, it is necessary to find a cheaper alternative industrial crops, such as a specific variety of lupin (Lupinus angustifolius L. cultivar “Boregine”). The chemical and lipid composition of lupin seeds as well as the physicochemical characteristics of the oil were examined. The seeds are rich in proteins and carbohydrates, mainly starch, but have low oil content. Sucrose was the main soluble sugar and the major amino acids were phenylalanine, arginine, tyrosine and serine. Linoleic and oleic acids were predominate in the oil; β-sitosterol and γ-tocopherol were the main components in the sterol and tocopherol fractions, respectively. Phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylcholine represented more than 50% of all phospholipids and oleic acid was in the highest amount in all phospholipid classes. All physicochemical characteristics of lupin seed oil were in agreement with the requirements for edible oils and its oxidative stability at 100 °C and an air flow rate of 20 L/h was extremely high (more than 100 h). Lupin seeds have high nutritional value and their oil depicts to be stable, which makes them a possible source of high quality lipids with long shelf life.