Abstract

OCAMPO-DURAN, Álvaro; FERNANDEZ-LAVADO, Andrea P  and  CASTRO-LIMA, Francisco. Oil from seje palm Oenocarpus bataua Mart. due to its nutritional quality may generates conservation and sustainable use of riparian forest in the Colombian Orinoquia. Orinoquia [online]. 2013, vol.17, n.2, pp.215-229. ISSN 0121-3709.

The riparian forest on eastern plains of Colombia, many of them rich on seje palm (Oenocarpus bataua Mart.), have been meaning as nutritional support for ancestral communities of the region. The extraction of seje Oil was done in the Natural Reserve the Unamas, San Martin county, 300 a.s.l., Meta department, Colombia. A three riparian forest of 900 hectares was used for the study. The seje palm and its oil extraction illustrate the potential forest sustainable use, with seje oil, which is similar or superior to olive oil, edible for human consumption and strategic potential use for animal nutrition. A density of palms in the riparian forest was established; soil quality and protocols for the seje oil extraction were evaluated, trying to improve the traditional oil extraction protocol, management the temperature during the process. For the traditional protocol 1 the maximum oil extraction was 2,5% while with protocol 2 it was of 4,26% improving the oil extraction on 70%. The average palm density was 187,7 ha^-1 where 67% of the palms were on production (125,7 palms ha^-1) and 33% were unproductive on development (62 palms ha^-1). The soil were the seje palm is produced is acid, low in phosphorus and nitrogen content, and high aluminium and iron concentration, but the forest productivity seems to be linked to nutrient cycling by trash and microorganism on the superficial soil layer. The seje oil composition was not affected by fruit ripeness but the fruit ripe produced more oil. The seje oil is rich on oleic acid similar to olive oil, with lower linoleic acid but higher linolenic acid content. The seje oil product of high nutritional value, a product of riparian forest, should contribute to forest conservation and its sustainable use.

Keywords : Seje oil; riparian orinoquia forest; oleic acid; linoleic acid; linolenic acid; Oenocarpus bataua Mart; seje palm.

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