SELECTION OF INDUCED MUTANTS WITH IMPROVED LINOLENIC ACID CONTENT IN CAMELINA

Camelina (Camelina sativa (L.) Crtz.) is regarded as a potential crop producing a seed oil rich in linolenic acid (C18:3), which could be ut ilized for different oleochemical applications. Seeds of a camelina br eeding line have been irradiated with gamma-rays in order to induce ge netic variation in fatty acid composition. In the M-2-generation, 8017 plants were subjected to a thiobarbituric acid test to identify mutan ts with increased linolenic acid content. Subsequently, M-3-lines were isolated, which showed significantly higher concentrations of linolen ic acid (up to 40.8%) than the control (34-36%). Moreover, genotypes w ith an erucic acid content of less than 2% were also found in the muta nt population. Different mutant lines can thus be combined in order to obtain transgressive segregants, which could give a further increase in linolenic acid content.