Cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) is a valuable by-product of the cashew industry. CNSL has diverse industrial applications due to its unique chemical constituents such as anacardic acid, cardanol and cardol. However, inefficient extraction methods limit its commercial utility. Optimization of the extraction solvent is one of the most important factors for the development of efficient CNSL extraction protocols. In this study, we evaluated the effect of different solvents and solvent mixtures on CNSL extraction efficiency. Among the different solvents tested for extraction, acetone, chloroform, isopropanol, methanol, ethanol and two solvent mixtures (ethanol:hexane 1:2 v/v and ethanol:chloroform 2:1 v/v) were found to be the most effective solvents for CNSL extraction. Among these, methanol exhibited the highest CNSL extraction efficiency, which can be attributed to the relatively polar nature of major CNSL constituents such as anacardic acids, cardol and cardanol. Further, CNSL content was evaluated among forty-five cashew genotypes using the best solvent-based protocol and the results showed significant genetic variation in tested genotypes for the CNSL content (10.0-32.6%, p<0.05). The findings of this study pave the way for the development of efficient CNSL extraction protocols. Further, the assessment of CNSL content in the selected accessions will be useful in the cashew breeding programmes aimed at developing cultivars with high CNSL content suitable for industrial purposes and low CNSL types for direct culinary uses.
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Anacardium, CNSL, Solvent, Industry, Protocol
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