'' Pappea Capen8Is" Seed. 763 



The above figures indicate that the meals from the whole and 

 decorticated seed of Pappea capensis have a fairly good nutritive 

 value, though they are inferior to the corresponding products obtained 

 from cotton seed. 



The Pappea meal contained no alkaloid or cyanogenetic glucoside, 

 but a saponin was present which gave the meal a slightly bitter 

 flavour. Emulsification and frothing tests were made with the meal 

 in comparison with tea-seed cake and Bassia longifolia meal, and 

 the results indicated that the Pappea meal contained a much smaller 

 amount of saponin than these materials. The meal could, however, 

 not be recommended as a feeding-stuff until practical trials have been 

 carried out to ascertain whether it is harmless. 



If the meal should prove unsuitable for use as a feeding-stuff it 

 might be employed as a manure, but as the meal from the undecorti- 

 cated seed contains only about 2.6 per cent, of nitrogen and 0.7 per 

 cent, of phosphates (calculated as Po^l-) it would realize only a low 

 price in normal conditions. Rape-seed cake, which contains about 

 5 per cent, of nitrogen and 2.5 per cent, of phosphates, was sold in 

 pre-war times at about £2 per ton in the United Kingdom. 



Coviviercial Value. — Samples of the seed and oil were submitted 

 for valuation to oil-seed crushers, who stated that the oil was not 

 suitable for edible purposes, and could not be rendered suitable by 

 any of the ordinary refining processes. The oil would, therefore, 

 have to be regarded mainly as a soap-making material, for which 

 purpose its value under normal conditions would be about equal to 

 that of cotton-seed oil, which, in ordinary circumstances, is worth 

 about £25 per ton in the United Kingdom, although it is at present 

 quoted at £1.10 per ton. 



The market value of the seed will depend to some extent on 

 that of the residual meal, but the oil crushers stated that assuming 

 the residual meal to be of no value they were of opinion that these 

 Pappea capensis seeds would be saleable in the United Kingdom at a 

 price rather higher than that of cotton seed if they could be offered 

 in commercial quantities. In the present abnormal conditions the 

 seeds might realize as much as £30 per ton in the United Kingdom. 

 Cotton seed is at present quoted in the United Kingdom at £28. 10s. to 

 £29. 10s. per ton, but before the war the usual price was only £7 

 to £9 per ton. 



Remarks . — These Pappea capensis seeds give a good yield of oil, 

 which could be used for soap-making or as a lubricant, and they would 

 be of interest to oil-seed crushers in the United States if large 

 supplies are available. The residual meals from both the whole and 

 decorticated seeds are not such rich feeding-stuffs as the correspond- 

 ing products from cotton seed, and they have a slightly bitter flavour 

 due to the presence of saponin. Feeding trials will, therefore, be 

 required in order to determine whether the meals could safely be 

 used as a cattle food. 



Information should be furnished to the Imperial Institute as 

 to the quantity of the seeds likely to be available annually in South 

 Africa, together with an estimate of the price at which they could be 

 offered in the United Kingdom. It will then be possible to decide 

 whether it would be worth while to arrange for a large scale trial 

 in order to determine the exact value of the oil and the possibility 

 of using the meal or cake as a feeding-stuff. 



