VARIATION IN AGRONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS AND SEED OIL COMPOSITION OF NEW OILSEED CROPS IN CENTRAL ITALY

The following new potential oilseed crops for industrial uses have bee n considered for agronomic traits and seed oil composition during a 3 year trial in Central Italy: Calendula officinalis (calendic acid); Ca melina sativa and Lepidium sativum (linolenic acid); Coriandrum sativu m (petroselinic acid); Euphorbia lagascae and Vernonia galamensis (epo xy fatty acids); Madia sativa (linoleic acid); Lesquerella fendleri (h ydroxy fatty acids). Agronomic characteristics were examined in replic ated field trials and phenological and morphological assessments were made. Seed oil content was determined by the Soxhlet method. Fatty aci ds were determined by gas liquid chromatography after transesterificat ion to the methyl esters. A range of variation within most species was established for genetic differences in such traits as date of floweri ng, plant height, seed yield and oil percentage. Mean oil content in C amelina sativa, Lepidium sativum, Madia sativa and Coriandrum sativum was also influenced by the climatic conditions occurring in the differ ent years, decreasing in the driest seasons. Some species (Coriandrum sativum, Madia sativa, Vernonia galamensis, Euphorbia lagascae and Les querella fendleri) produced high levels (more than 50%) of a single fa tty acid in their seeds. This finding is favourable for industrial use s by minimising dowstream processing costs. On the other hand, other s pecies (Lepidium sativum, Camelina sativa, Calendula officinalis) cont ained a mixture of fatty acids in their seeds. Some of these species s howed good agronomic traits, including tolerance to drought and to hig h temperature, making them potentially suitable for cultivation in the Mediterranean area. For most of them, further breeding work should be directed towards increasing seed oil content and eliminating certain wild characteristics such as fruit dehiscence. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scien ce B.V.