Available online at www.sciencedirect.

com

Animal Feed Science and Technology

148 (2009) 267275

Fatty acid and nutritive quality of chia (Salvia

hispanica L.) seeds and plant during growth
P.G. Peiretti , F. Gai
Institute of Sciences of Food Production, National Research Council,
via L. da Vinci 44, 10095 Grugliasco (TO), Italy
Received 6 September 2007; received in revised form 18 March 2008; accepted 16 April 2008

Abstract
The fatty acid (FA) profile, chemical composition, gross energy and organic matter digestibility of
chia (Salvia hispanica L.) have been determined in the seed and in the plant collected at five progressive
morphological stages from early vegetative to budding stage. The FA analyses disclosed quantitative
differences between the plant stages that were characterised by a high percentage of polyunsaturated
fatty acids (PUFA), which made up from 752 to 623 g/kg of the total FA of the plant during the growth
cycle. The -linolenic acid (ALA, C18:3n3 ) decreased from 649 g/kg, at the early vegetative stage,
to 499 g/kg of the total FA, at the budding stage, while all the other FAs increased with increasing
growth stage. The chia seed FAs were also highly unsaturated, with their main components being
ALA (641 g/kg of the total FA) and linoleic acid (LA, C18:2n6 ; 188 g/kg of the total FA).
The evolution of the quality of chia is closely related to the ageing of the plant. The chia plant
provides a forage with a good nutritive value when harvested at a stage before the shooting period.
After this, the nutritional quality of the plant considerably decreases with an increase in the fibrous
fractions and a dramatical decrease of the crude protein content.
2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Salvia hispanica L.; Nutritive value; Growth stage; Lipid; Fibrous fractions; Crude protein

Abbreviations: ADFom, acid detergent fibre; ALA, -linolenic acid; CP, crude protein; EE, ether extract; FA,
fatty acid; GE, gross energy; IVOMD, in vitro organic matter digestibility; LA, linoleic acid; NDFom, neutral
detergent fibre; OA, oleic acid; OM, organic matter; PUFA, polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 011 6709230; fax: +39 011 6709297.
E-mail address: piergiorgio.peiretti@ispa.cnr.it (P.G. Peiretti).
0377-8401/$ see front matter 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2008.04.006

268

P.G. Peiretti, F. Gai / Animal Feed Science and Technology 148 (2009) 267275

1. Introduction
Chia (Salvia hispanica L.) is an annual herbaceous plant of the mint family (Labiatae).
It is native to southern Mexico and northern Guatemala and is interesting because it can
be cultivated to produce oil for both food and industry (Ayerza, 1995). Chia has recently
been commercialized as a crop in South America, where it is considered as an alternative
crop to help the diversification and stabilization of the local economy (Coates and Ayerza,
1996), in arid and semiarid regions, where water availibility is the main limitation to crop
production and oilseed planting. In this sense, oilseed plants such as chia, which are rich
in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), may be considered a highly economic substitute for
common field crops (Heuer et al., 2002).
Chia seed has about 250390 g oil/kg fresh matter (FM) (Ayerza, 1995; Ting et al.,
1990). The fatty acids (FA) of chia oil are highly unsaturated, with their main components
being linoleic (LA, C18:2n6 ; 170260 g/kg of the total FA) and -linolenic acid (ALA,
C18:3n3 ; 500570 g/kg of the total FA). The meal is high in protein and fibre, and can
be used as animal and human food (Ting et al., 1990). Moreover, chia seed contains some
compounds such as myricetin, quercetin, kaemperol, and caffeic acid with potent antioxidant
activity (Castro-Martinez et al., 1986; Taga et al., 1984), but it does not contain toxic
factors (Bushway et al., 1981, 1984; Weber et al., 1991; Lin et al., 1994). Chia seeds
and meal have not shown any of the problems associated with other PUFA sources such
as flaxseed or marine products, concerning fishy flavour, animal weight loss and digestive
problems, etc. (Ayerza and Coates, 2000, 2001; Ayerza et al., 2002). The commercialization
of products with chia seed as feed for horses, pigs, birds, cats, and dogs is rapidly increasing
worldwide. Chia is one of the most efficient PUFA sources for enriching foods (Ayerza and
Coates, 2001). Many scientific papers have reported the nutritional advantage of chia over
the other PUFA sources, in poultry diets for eggs (Ayerza and Coates, 1999, 2000, 2001,
2002a) and meat production (Ayerza et al., 2002), and in the diet of milk cows for milk
production (Ayerza and Coates, 2002b), and in rabbit diets (Meineri and Peiretti, 2007).
Ayerza and Coates (2000) have reported the chemical composition of chia seeds, but there
is no information available on the changes in the quality of whole plants during the growth
cycle.
The objective of this study was to determine the FA composition and the nutritive value
of chia seeds and the vegetative parts as a possible source of PUFA for ruminants.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Plant material and environmental conditions
The chia seeds, that were used to sow the experiment and analysed for oil FA profile, were purchased from the Ornitalia Product Service s.a.s. (Colleredo di Monte Albano
(UD), Italy). The study was conducted in the Western Po Valley near Cuneo, Italy. The
climate of northern Italy is characterised by high precipitation in April, May and October
(96110 mm month1 ) with little rainfall in the summer and winter. The mean daily temperatures increase from 0.5 C in January to 22 C by the end of July. The chia stands

P.G. Peiretti, F. Gai / Animal Feed Science and Technology 148 (2009) 267275

269

were seeded in May 2004. No irrigation or fertilisers were applied after sowing. The
herbage samples were collected from 1 m2 subplots randomly located in 3m 5 m plots
with three replicates. Plants were cut to a 12 cm stubble height. Herbage samples were
collected five times at progressive morphological stages from early vegetative to budding stage from the end of June to the beginning of September 2004. The mean canopy
height at the five stages were 25, 40, 50, 70 and 90 cm, respectively. Sampling was performed in the morning after the disappearance of dew and was never carried out on rainy
days.
2.2. Fatty acid analysis
Fresh samples (200 g) of the herbage were immediately refrigerated until the arrival to
the laboratory then freeze-dried and ground to pass through a 1 mm screen. Lipid extraction
of seed and plant samples were performed on freeze-dried samples according to Hara and
Radin (1978), while the transesterification of the FA was performed according to Christie
(1982), with the modifications described by Chouinard et al. (1999).
The FAs were analysed as their methyl esters. The analysis was carried out by gas
chromatography, using a Dani GC 1000 DPC (Dani Instruments S.P.A., Cologno Monzese,
Italy), equipped with a Supelcowax-10 fused silica capillary column (60 m 0.32 mm (i.d.),
0.25 m). The injector and detector ports were set at 245 and 270 C, respectively. The oven
temperature program was initially set at 50 C for the first minute, and then increased at a
rate of 15 C/min to 200 C, where it remained for 20 min and then increased at a rate of
5 C/min to 230 C, where it remained for the last 3 min. The carrier gas was helium. One
microlitre was injected using a Dani ALS 1000 auto sampler with a 1:50 split ratio. The peak
area was measured using a Dani Data Station DDS 1000, where each peak was identified
and quantified according to pure methyl ester standards (Restek Corporation, Bellefonte,
PA, USA).
2.3. Chemical analysis
The herbage samples were immediately dried in a forced-draught oven (65 C) to a
constant weight, brought to ambient temperature, weighed, ground in a Cyclotec mill
(Tecator, Herndon, VA, USA) to pass through a 1 mm screen and stored for next analyses.
Dried seed and herbage samples were analysed to determine the total N content
(AOAC 955.04, 1990), ash by ignition to 550 C, ether extract (EE) using the Soxlet
method (AOAC 963.15, 1990), acid detergent fibre (ADFom) as described by Van Soest
et al. (1991) expressed exclusive of residual ash, lignin determined by solubilization
of cellulose with sulphuric acid as described by Robertson and Van Soest (1981) and
gross energy (GE), which was determined using an adiabatic calorimeter bomb (IKA
C7000, Staufen, Germany). The herbage samples were also analysed to determine the
neutral detergent fibre (NDFom) without sodium sulfite and -amylase, as described by
Van Soest et al. (1991) expressed exclusive of residual ash, and in vitro organic matter
digestibility (IVOMD) according to the two-stage rumen fluid technique (Tilley and Terry,
1963).

270

P.G. Peiretti, F. Gai / Animal Feed Science and Technology 148 (2009) 267275

Table 1
Content of fatty acid (g/kg of total FA) in chia seed oil
This studyb
C16
C18
C18:1n9
C18:2n6
C18:3n3
P/Sa
n-6/n-3
a
b

71
33
60
188
641
7.9
0.29

0.64
0.41
0.48
0.25
0.87
0.66
0.00

Ayerza (1995)

Ayerza and Coates

(2004)

Coates and Ayerza

(1996)

Heuer et al. (2002)

6271
3137
7382
198208
607634
7.68.8
0.310.33

6677
2736
68133
180211
542642
6.78.7
0.290.38

6479
2432
6066
170201
632678
7.79.3
0.250.32

7687
2630
6163
174187
635651
7.37.8
0.270.29

Polyunsaturated fatty acid/saturated fatty acid.

Average of four replicates.

2.4. Statistical analysis

The variability in the FA and herbage quality characteristics harvested at five different
stages of maturity were analysed for their statistical significance via analysis of variance
(ANOVA) using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS Inc., 2002) to test the
effect of the growth stage.

3. Results
The results of the FA analysis of chia seed oil are compared in Table 1 with those of
Ayerza (1995), Ayerza and Coates (2004), Coates and Ayerza (1996), and Heuer et al.
(2002). These analyses reconfirmed the known specific profile of FA in chia oil, which was
similar to that reported for oils from chia seed grown in Argentina, Colombia, Per`u, Bolivia
and Israel.
The FA analyses disclosed quantitative differences between the plant stage (Table 2).
The palmitic acid (C16:0 ), stearic acid (C18:0 ), oleic acid (OA, C18:1n9 ), LA, and arachidic
Table 2
Fatty acid composition (g/kg of total FA) of chia at five morphological stages
Stage

Early vegetative Mid vegetative Late vegetative Shooting

26/06/2004a
03/07/2004a
10/07/2004a
30/07/2004a

Budding
03/09/2004a

SEM Stage effect

C16
C18
C18:1n9
C18:2n6
C18:3n3
C20:0
Other

99
20
16
103
649
7
106

123
36
36
124
499
12
175

2.8
2.1
2.8
3.3
16.7
0.6
7.2

a
*
**
***

104
21
19
100
609
7
140

116
20
19
118
565
8
154

Date of harvest.
Significant response at a 0.05 probability level.
Significant response at a 0.01 probability level.
Significant response at a 0.001 probability level.

123
31
35
122
504
10
169

***
**
**
*
***
***
***

P.G. Peiretti, F. Gai / Animal Feed Science and Technology 148 (2009) 267275

271

acid (C20:0 ) increased, while the ALA decreased with increasing growth stage. The greatest
differences in the FA composition of the whole chia plant are due to the ALA content
that decreased from 649 to 499 g/kg of total FA at early vegetative and budding stage,
respectively. The FA composition in the plant was characterised by a high percentage of
PUFA, which made up from 752 to 623 g/kg of the total FA of the plant during the growth
cycle. The FA pattern in the whole plant during growth also differed from that of the seeds,
where PUFA represent 829 g/kg of the total FA and the percentage of ALA was similar to
that of the early vegetative stage of the plant.
The herbage quality at the five different stages of development is reported in Table 3.
The DM content of chia was very low throughout all the stages studied. The results showed
that the DM content increased with advancing morphological stage from 84 g/kg FM, at the
early vegetative stage, to 224 g/kg FM for the budding stage. Plants continually change in
forage quality as they mature. The chia forage quality was better in the initial growth stages
than at the budding stage, due to the high CP and low ADFom and NDFom amounts. The
CP content decreased from 188 to 57 g/kg DM from the earliest to the oldest analyzed stage.
The NDFom and ADFom content increased during growth from 364 to 485 g/kg DM and
from 250 to 382 g/kg DM, respectively. The chia plant quality decreased with increasing
lignification of the cell wall, which ranged from 66 g/kg DM, at the early vegetative stage,
to 80 g/kg DM, at the budding stage. The ash and ether extract concentrations decreased as
the plant matured.
The GE slowly increased from 15.9 to 17.1 MJ/kg DM, while the IVOMD decreased
from 678 to 584 g/kg OM from the earliest to the oldest analyzed stage.
The chia seeds are higher in DM, OM, CP, lignin and GE than the plant during the growth
cycle, while the ether extract content was 10-fold more in the seed than in the plant at all the
growth stages. The ash content was very low in the seeds, while the ADFom content of the
seed was similar to that of the plant between the late vegetative and shooting stage. It was
not possible to determine the NDFom content or the IVOMD of the seed due to its content
of soluble fibre, which appears as mucilage when it is placed in water and this makes the
filtration of the sample partially impossible.

4. Discussion
The amount of ALA, LA, other minor FA and the polyunsaturated/saturated FA ratio
and n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio of the chia seed oil analysed in the present investigation were in the
range reported in literature (Ayerza, 1995; Ayerza and Coates, 2004; Coates and Ayerza,
1996; Heuer et al., 2002). Differences in the composition of the FAs in chia seed oil can
be ascribed to the different environmental conditions, such as temperature, light, soil type
and available nutrients. In particular Ayerza (1995) have showed that the variations in oil
content, and oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acid concentrations of the oil were affected by
location, while Ayerza and Coates (2004) have found that chia seeds grown in different
ecosystems in South America showed a significant difference in protein and oil contents,
peroxide index and FA composition.
The FA profile of the chia plant varied, according to the stage of development, which
is in agreement with literature on other oil seed crops. ALA was the most abundant FA, as

272

Stage

Early vegetative
26/06/2004b

Mid vegetative
03/07/2004b

Late vegetative
10/07/2004b

Shooting
30/07/2004b

Budding
03/09/2004b

SEM

Stage effect

Seeda

DM (g/kg)
OM
Crude protein
Ether extract
Ash
NDFom
ADFom
Lignin
IVOMD
GE (MJ/kg DM)

84
830
188
30
170
364
250
66
0.678
15.9

111
857
138
26
143
387
293
65
0.657
16.0

111
869
122
23
131
414
323
69
0.652
16.3

174
899
76
19
101
454
383
81
0.600
16.9

224
923
57
18
77
485
382
80
0.584
17.1

13.6
8.7
12.6
1.2
8.7
11.8
13.8
2.0
0.012
0.13

***

949 0.7
952 0.1
235 1.4
311 3.5
48 0.1
n.a.c
345 14.1
126 2.1
n.a.c
26.1 1.4

a
b
c
***

Mean S.D.
Date of harvest
Not available.
Significant response at a 0.001 probability level.

***
***
***
***
***
***
***
***
***

P.G. Peiretti, F. Gai / Animal Feed Science and Technology 148 (2009) 267275

Table 3
Chemical composition (g/kg DM basis) in vitro OM digestibility and gross energy (GE) of chia at five morphological stages and of the seed

P.G. Peiretti, F. Gai / Animal Feed Science and Technology 148 (2009) 267275

273

was also reported for evening primrose (Peiretti et al., 2004a) and false flax (Peiretti and
Meineri, 2007), during the entire studied growth cycle, and for borage, until the flowering
stage (Peiretti et al., 2004b).
The ether extract content of chia seed was similar to the oil content reported by Ayerza
and Coates (2004) and Bushway et al. (1981). The CP content of chia seed found in the
present investigation was higher than those reported by Bushway et al. (1981) and Ayerza
and Coates (2004), probably due to environmental conditions.
The chemical composition of the chia plant was closely associated to the morphological
stages of the plant, showing a decline in quality with increasing maturity. Maturity, in fact,
is the most important factor affecting forage quality due to the different ratio between the
plant tissue components, the increase in lignification during plant development (Morrison,
1980) and the increase in fibre fractions in plant tissues (Wilson et al., 1991). The decline in
forage quality with advancing maturity is consistent with results obtained on other forage
legumes and grasses (Nelson and Moser, 1994). Similar trends were also observed in other
plants with seeds rich in PUFA, such as evening primrose (Peiretti et al., 2004a), borage
(Peiretti et al., 2004b), and false flax (Peiretti and Meineri, 2007).
In conclusion, the chia plant is a source of PUFA and provides forage with a good
nutritive value when harvested at a stage before the shooting period, but at this stage the
low DM content of chia prolongs the wilting period which in turn has a negative effect on
the drying speed during wilting of the plant at early stages. After this, the nutritional quality
of the plant considerably decreases with an increase in the fibrous fractions and a dramatic
decrease in the CP content. In order to obtain more complete information about this plant
and its potential uses, further studies could be conducted on multi-year trials with a range
of chia accessions collected from a wide geographical range to determine the DM yield of
the crop and the intake of this forage by ruminants, as feeding the whole chia plant could
also be proposed as a possible source of PUFA in ruminant nutrition.

Acknowledgement
Financial support for this work was provided by the Italian National Research Council.

References
AOAC, 1990. Official Methods of Analysis, 15th ed. of the Assoc. Off. Analyt. Chemists, Arlington, VA, USA.
Ayerza, R., 1995. Oil content and fatty acid composition of chia (Salvia hispanica L.) from five northwestern
locations in Argentina. J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 72, 10791081.
Ayerza, R., Coates, W., 1999. An omega-3 fatty acid enriched chia diet: its influence on egg fatty acid composition,
cholesterol and oil content. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 79, 5358.
Ayerza, R., Coates, W., 2000. Dietary levels of chia: influence on yolk cholesterol, lipid content and fatty acid
composition, for two strains of hens. Poult. Sci. 79, 724739.
Ayerza, R., Coates, W., 2001. The omega-3 enriched eggs: the influence of dietary alpha-linolenic fatty acid source
combination on egg production and composition. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 81, 355362.
Ayerza, R., Coates, W., 2002a. Dietary levels of chia: influence on hen weight, egg production and sensory quality,
for two strains of hens. Br. Poult. Sci. 43, 283290.

274

P.G. Peiretti, F. Gai / Animal Feed Science and Technology 148 (2009) 267275

Ayerza, R., Coates, W., 2002b. Influence of chia on total fat, cholesterol, and fatty acid profile of Holstein cows
milk. In: Association for the Advancement of Industrial Crops Meeting, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada,
p. 1.
Ayerza, R., Coates, W., 2004. Protein and oil content, peroxide index and fatty acid composition of chia (Salvia
hispanica L.) grown in six tropical and sub-tropical ecosystems of South America. Trop. Sci. 44 (3), 131135.
Ayerza, R., Coates, W., Lauria, M., 2002. Chia seed (Salvia hispanica L.) as an omega-3 fatty acid source for
broilers: influence on fatty acid composition, cholesterol and fat content of white and dark meats, growth
performance, and sensory characteristics. Poult. Sci. 81, 826837.
Bushway, A.A., Belya, P.R., Bushway, R.J., 1981. Chia seed as a source of oil, polysaccharide, and protein. J.
Food Sci. 46, 13491356.
Bushway, A.A., Wilson, A.M., Houston, L., Bushway, R.J., 1984. Selected properties of the lipid and protein
fractions from chia seed. J. Food Sci. 49, 555557.
Castro-Martinez, R., Pratt, D.E., Miller, E.E., 1986. Natural antioxidants of chia seeds. In Proceedings of the
world conference on emerging technologies in the fats and oils industry, edited and published by American
Oil Chemists Society, Champaign, Illinois, USA. pp. 392396.
Chouinard, P.Y., Corneau, L., Sb, A., Bauman, D.E., 1999. Milk yield and composition during abomasal infusion
of conjugated linoleic acids in dairy cows. J. Dairy Sci. 82, 27372745.
Christie, W.W., 1982. A simple procedure for rapid transmethylation of glycerolipids and cholesteryl esters. J.
Lipid Res. 23, 10721075.
Coates, W., Ayerza, R., 1996. Production potential of chia in Northwestern Argentina. Ind. Crops Prod. 5, 229233.
Hara, A., Radin, N.S., 1978. Lipid extraction of tissues with a low-toxicity solvent. Anal. Biochem. 90, 420426.
Heuer, B., Yaniv, Z., Ravina, I., 2002. Effect of late salinization of chia (Salvia hispanica), stock (Matthiola
tricuspidata) and evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) on their oil content and quality. Ind. Crops Prod. 15,
163167.
Lin, K.Y., Daniel, J.R., Whistler, R.L., 1994. Structure of chia polysaccharide exudate. Carbohydr. Polym. 23,
1318.
Meineri, G., Peiretti, P.G., 2007. Apparent digestibility of mixed feed with increasing levels of chia (Salvia
hispanica L.) seeds in rabbit diets. Ital. J. Anim. Sci. 6, 778780.
Morrison, I.M., 1980. Changes in the lignin and hemicellulose concentrations of ten varieties of temperate grasses
with increasing maturity. Grass Forage Sci. 35, 287293.
Nelson, C.J., Moser, L.E., 1994. Plant Factors Affecting Forage Quality. ASA-CSSA-SSSA, Madison, WI.
Peiretti, P.G., Meineri, G., 2007. Fatty acids, chemical composition and organic matter digestibility of seeds and
vegetative parts of false flax (Camelina sativa L.) after different lengths of growth. Anim. Feed Sci. Technol.
133, 341350.
Peiretti, P.G., Palmegiano, G.B., Masoero, G., 2004a. Chemical composition, organic matter digestibility and fatty
acid content of evening primrose (Oenothera paradoxa) during its growth cycle. Anim. Feed Sci. Technol.
116 (34), 293299.
Peiretti, P.G., Palmegiano, G.B., Salamano, G., 2004b. Quality and fatty acid content of borage (Borago ofcinalis
L.) during the growth cycle. Ital. J. Food Sci. 2 (16), 177184.
Robertson, J.B., Van Soest, P.J., 1981. The detergent system of analysis. In: James, W.P.T., Theander, O. (Eds.),
The Analysis of Dietary Fibre in Food. Marcel Dekker, NY, pp. 123158.
SPSS Inc., 2002. Statistical Package for Social Science-Version 11.5.1 for Windows, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL,
USA.
Taga, M.S., Miller, E.E., Pratt, D.E., 1984. Chia seeds as a source of natural lipid antioxidants. J. Am. Oil Chem.
Soc. 61, 928931.
Tilley, J.M.A., Terry, R.A., 1963. A two-stage technique for the in vitro digestion of forage crops. J. Br. Grassl.
Soc. 18, 104111.
Ting, I.P., Brown, J.H., Naqvi, H.H., Kumamoto, J., Matsumura, M., 1990. Chia: a potential oil crop for arid
zones. In: Naqvi, H.H., Estilai, A., Ting, I.P. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 1st International Conference of New
Industrial Crops and Products. Riverside, CA, pp. 197202.
Van Soest, P.J., Robertson, J.B., Lewis, B.A., 1991. Methods for dietary fiber, neutral detergent fiber, and nonstarch
polysaccharides in relation to animal nutrition. J. Dairy Sci. 74, 35833591.

P.G. Peiretti, F. Gai / Animal Feed Science and Technology 148 (2009) 267275

275

Weber, C.W., Gentry, H.S., Kohlhepp, E.A., McCrohan, P.R., 1991. The nutritional and chemical evaluation of
chia seeds. Ecol. Food Nutr. 26, 119125.
Wilson, J.R., Deinum, B., Engels, F.M., 1991. Temperature effects on anatomy and digestibility of leaf and stem
of tropical and temperate forage species. Neth. J. Agric. Sci. 39, 3148.