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Opportunities and problems in modification of levels of rapeseed C 18 unsaturated fatty acids
Author(s) -
Rakow G.,
McGregor D. I.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
journal of the american oil chemists' society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.512
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1558-9331
pISSN - 0003-021X
DOI - 10.1007/bf02641817
Subject(s) - rapeseed , linolenic acid , linoleic acid , food science , mutant , oleic acid , alpha linolenic acid , chemistry , fatty acid , biochemistry , biology , polyunsaturated fatty acid , gene , docosahexaenoic acid
Selections for different levels of C 18 fatty acids in rapeseed to date have had only limited success, due in part to the low frequency of occurrence of desired genotypes with increased linoleic and decreased linolenic acid. In the progeny of mutation experiments with seeds of the variety Oro (linolenic acid content 8–10%) two stable mutants were selected, one with 5% and the other with 20% linolenic acid in the seed oil. The level of linoleic acid in the two mutants is the same as Oro (16–20%), but the levels of oleic and linolenic acids are inversely altered. In this paper several problems associated with selecting for linoleic and linolenic acids, which became apparent during the mutation studies, are discussed. Many selections made from the mutated material were unstable, reverting to the original Oro fatty acid composition after two or three self‐pollinated generations. This fact plus environmental and maternal effects made selection difficult. However, with the use of rapid and simple analytical methods and space‐saving growing techniques, these difficulties were overcome.