Seed composition of different Camelina sativa and Crambe abyssinica cultivars

Biodiesel is produced mainly from rapeseed oil in European Union. With an increase in demand for oilseeds, two alternative oilseed crops for Europe, camelina (Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz) and crambe (Crambe abjssinica Hochst. ex R.E. Fries), identified as major candidates for the future European bio-based economy. The aim of study was to evaluate seed oil composition of five camelina and four crambe cultvars as an interaction of genotype and meteorological conditions in Lithuania. Seed were sown and grown at the Experimental Station of Lithuanian University of Agriculture, Middle Lithuania, on soil — clay loam on sandy light loam Calc(ar)i-Endohypogleyic Luvisol(LVg-n-w-cc). To determine fatty acids, the oils were extracted by the Folch method (Folch & Less, 1957) and NIRS method was used to determine the glucosinolate content. The oil content in dry matter of seeds varied between species, years of cultivation and cultivars. This characteristic varied from 22.07 to 42.47% in camelina seeds and was 34.89% on average in years of investigation. The oil content in seeds of crambe varied in slightly narrower range (23.35-36.60%) with average of 29.33%, and was significantly lower than oil content in camelina seeds (p = 0.035). The glucosinolates content varied from 61.82 to 68.63 |o,mol g1 in oil of crambe, and from 14.70 to 30.51 |amol g1 in oil of camelina and differed significantly between species (p < 0.001). The result of factorial Anova revealed that plant species had the highest effect on variation of glucosinolates content in oil. By analogy to oil content, the increase of precipitation had significant negative effect on glucosinolates content. ... [et al.].