Comparative study on yield and bioactive components of peony seed oil extracted by different methods

This study systematically compared ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), and ultrasonic-microwave synergistic extraction (UMSE) in terms of extraction efficiency and peony seed oil quality. The optimized UMSE protocol—involving microwave treatment (600W, 6 min) followed by ultrasound (560W, 20 min) at 40 °C with a solid–liquid ratio of 1:8 g/mL—achieved a significantly higher oil yield of 31.5% ± 0.08 (p < 0.05) and exhibited excellent storage stability with no phase separation after 30 days. Chromatographic analysis identified nine characteristic fatty acids across all methods, with UMSE yielding significantly higher levels of palmitoleate, palmitate, oleate, stearate, and arachidate. MAE resulted in elevated linolenate, behenate, and total phenols, whereas UAE enhanced linoleate and cis-11-eicosenoate. Overall, UMSE outperformed the other methods, providing the highest total unsaturated fatty acids, free fatty acids, and vitamin E content (p < 0.05), demonstrating its strong potential for efficient production of high-quality peony seed oil.