Mahua seeds contain up to 50% oil. In the industrial extraction process, the seeds are first broken and flaked, the resulting flakes are then steam-cooked. The cooked flakes are crushed and solvent-extracted with hexane at 63°C. The resulting mahua oil meal contains less than 1% oil. In smallholder farms, the seeds are only crushed, resulting in an energy-rich mahua seed cake containing up to 17% oil

CULTIVATION

A plant of the subtropics to the hot tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 1,200 metres
Able to resist some frost, it grows in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 2 - 46°c. It grows best where the mean annual rainfall is between 550 - 1,500mm

Requires a sunny position
Prefers a deep loamy or sandy-loam soil with good drainage
It also occurs on shallow bouldery, clayey and calcareous soils
Established plants are drought resistant

A long-lived tree, it commences bearing when about 10 years old

A full grown tree can produce up to 90 kg of flowers in a year

Trees coppice well if they are felled when dormant in the hot season
They can be worked on 25 - 30 year coppice cycle to produce a mean annual increment of 3 - 5 cubic metres/ha