Oleifera or Stenopatala for oil production

Looking for recommendations on whether moringa oleifera or moringa stenopatala would be better for oil production. Both in terms of oil yield and oil quality. Conditions are north Haiti, rain forest climate.

  1. In general, in my experience, moringa oleifera is the better choice. This is largely because seed production in stenopetala may be much later than oleifera. Stenopetala in certain locations can be quite shy in pod production. [On the other hand, stenopetala is usually better in severe drought conditions but that would not apply to your location.] In coastal East Africa, we get considerable oleifera pod production within 8 months of setting seed. By the second year branches are straining and even breaking under the large weight of pods.

  2. Having said that, moringas are notoriously variable in performance. Even oil extraction by the same methods produces variable results according to location of plant sources. See, eg. ‘The Potential of Some Moringa Species for Seed Oil Production’ Silia Boukandoul et al. Agriculture 2018, 8(10), 150; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture8100150 or ‘Effects of location and extraction solvent on physico chemical properties of Moringa stenopetala seed oil’, Meseret Haile et al https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02781

  3. Assuming that you are cold pressing [but with added heat at grinding or pressing] oleifera should be fairly reliable.

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