Study on fatty acid of Vicia sativa and Elymus nutans inalpine grassland region

Abstract：The GCMS method was employed to detect the fatty acid contents of Vicia sativa and Elymus nutans, which were planted in alpine grassland. Twelve kinds of fatty acids were detected in V. sativa while eleven in E. nutans. Total fatty acid contents were 4.84 g/kg and 4.46 g/kg in V. sativa and E. nutans, respectively. Four unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) were detected in both of the grasses and the order of contents was  Linolenic acid＞Linoleic acid＞Oleic acid＞Palmitoleic acid. For the saturated fatty acids (SFA), the content of Palmitic acid was the highest compared to other kinds. The UFA/SFA ratio was 1.34 and 2.21 in V. sativa and E. nutans, respectively. Compared to V. sativa, E. nutans attained 11% higher UFA content but 33% lower SFA, as a result, UFA/SFA ratio of E. nutans was 1.65 time as high as V. sativa. The GC/MS method was proved to be a good method to dectect fatty acid with a good separation of the different components and high repeatability.