AGRONOMIC PERFORMANCE AND SEED QUALITY OF ETHIOPIAN MUSTARD IN SASKATCHEWAN

Ethiopian mustard (Brassica carinata A. Braun) is grown as an oilseed crop in Ethiopia. The agronomic performance and seed quality of 11 B. carinata lines were evaluated for 2 yr in field tests at Saskatoon, Sa skatchewan, to asses the potential of Ethiopian mustard as an oilseed crop for the Canadian prairies. The B. carinata accessions were 5 d la ter flowering and 19 d later maturing than the B, napus cultivar Westa r. Seed yields of B. carinata were comparable to those of B, napus in 1984, but were much lower than those of B. napus and B. juncea in 1985 . Seed of B, carinata had higher protein and lower oil and crude fibre contents than that of B. napus and B. rapa. The fatty acid compositio n of the oil of B. carinata seed was typical for that of a high erucic acid Brassica oil. Allyl glucosinolate was the only alkenyl glucosino late found in B. carinata seed meal. A comparison of near isogenic yel low and brown B. carinata lines indicated that, on average, yellow lin es produced heavier seed (+0.4 g), higher oil (+23 g kg(-1)) and prote in (+21 g kg(-1)) and lower crude fibre (-12 g kg(-1)) contents than b rown lines. Correlation studies showed that seed weight was positively correlated with oil and protein and negatively correlated with fibre content. The results of this study indicated that none of the 11 lines of B. carinata tested was adapted for immediate production on the Can adian prairies. Earlier-maturing, higher-oil-content lines of B. carin ata that produce low erucic acid and low glucosinolate seed must be de veloped before this species can be grown as an oilseed crop in Canada.