Seed colour and linolenic acid effects on agronomic traits in flax

Abstract

Saeidi, G. and Rowland, G. G. 1999. Seed colour and linolenic acid effects on agronomic traits in flax. Can. J. Plant Sci. 79: 521-526. Solin flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) is an edible-oil crop that must have less than 5% linolenic acid in its seed oil and a yellow seed coat. Seed vigour of solin is often lower than that of brown-seeded linseed flax and this lower seed vigour has been associated with both seed colour and linolenic acid levels. To evaluate the agronomic affect of this relationship, paired near-isogenic populations of flax differing in seed coat colour and linolenic acid concentration were selected from different crosses and sown in field trials at the Kernen Crop Research Farm, University of Saskatchewan in 1995 and 1996. Seed with brown seed coat colour had higher field emergence and seed yield than yellow-seeded types. However, emergence differences did not contribute to this seed yield variation. Maturity was not affected by seed colour but yellow seed had greater seed oil concentration and mechanical seed coat damage than brown seed. Low linolenic acid seed (2%), compared with high linolenic seed (50%), had lower field emergence in 1995, were later maturing and had higher seed yield . Linolenic acid concentration had no significant effect on oil concentration and seed damage from mechanical harvesting. Solin types had lower field emergence than industrial oil types. There was no difference for seed yield, oil concentration and seed weight between solin and industrial oil types. Solin seed was slightly later maturing and had greater seed coat damage than industrial seed in some genetic backgrounds.Key words: Seed colour, linolenic acid, emergence, seed damage, flax Saeidi, G. et Rowland, G. G. 1999. Effets de la coloration et de la teneur en acide linolénique de la graine sur les caractères agronomiques du lin. Can. J. Plant Sci. 79: 521-526. Le solin (Linum usitatissimum L.) est un lin dont la graine doit contenir une huile de moins de 5 % d'acide linolénique ainsi que porter un tégument séminal jaune. La vigueur de la semence du solin est souvent inférieure à celle des graines brunes du lin oléagineux ordinaire, défaut que l'on a relié à la fois à la couleur de la graine et au niveau d'acide linolénique. Pour évaluer les conséquences agronomiques de cette association, des populations quasiisogéniques en paires de lin, différant par la coloration du tégument et par la concentration d'acide linolénique dans la graine ont été sélectionnées à partir de divers croisements et semées en essais au champ en 1995 et en 1996 à la Kernen Crop Research Farm de la Saskatchewan. Les graines à tégument brun affichaient un taux de levée et un rendement grainier plus élevés que celles à tégument jaune, le taux de levée n'ayant toutefois pas de lien avec le rendement. Le degré de précocité de maturation n'était pas lié à la coloration de la graine, mais les graines jaunes contenaient plus d'huile et étaient plus sensibles aux endommagements mécaniques du tégument à la récolte. Par rapport aux graines à forte ...

The effect of autoclaving wilt nursery soil on emergence in flax

“…This is consistent with previous experiments in which yellow-seeded lines had a lower field emergence than brown seed (Saeidi and Rowland 1999b). Autoclaving the wilt nursery soil resulted in a large improvement in the emergence of yellow seed, but only a small improvement in the emergence of brown seed (Table 3).…”

“…Field emergence of yellowseeded lines was also significantly lower than brown-seeded lines (Saeidi and Rowland 1999b). Low seed linolenic acid concentration significantly reduced seed vigour in one of the four populations (Saeidi and Rowland 1999a) and reduced field emergence (Saeidi and Rowland 1999b). In both studies, solin flax, which has the combined characters of yellow seed colour and low (2%) linolenic acid, had significantly reduced seed vigour and field emergence than regular, brown-seeded industrial flax.…”

“…The germination test had been conducted in near-aseptic conditions, whereas the seed vigour test occurred in the presence of soil. Field emergence of yellowseeded lines was also significantly lower than brown-seeded lines (Saeidi and Rowland 1999b). Low seed linolenic acid concentration significantly reduced seed vigour in one of the four populations (Saeidi and Rowland 1999a) and reduced field emergence (Saeidi and Rowland 1999b).…”

Comparison of nutritive value of new commercial linseed oily cultivars for ruminants

“…The differences between cultivars were not as big as in protein content, however, brownseed cultivars contained more fat than yellow ones. This low variation between cultivars may have resulted from the fact that fatty acid content and profile have been the main traits in the breeding programme of linseed improvement (Sahi and Leitch, 1994;Grant et al, 1999;Saeidi and Rowland, 1999).…”

Effect of Mineral Fertilization and Sowing Rate on Chemical Composition of Two Linseed Cultivars

“…Linseed cultivars are characterized by a high variation of the seed yield depending on the cultivation area, agroclimatic conditions and cultivation technology (Candrakova & Bakula, 2001;Saeidi & Rowland, 1999). The most frequently studied factor of cultivation has been the sowing rate (Casa et al, 1999;Zubal, 2001;Hassan & Leitch, 2000), which ranged from 200 to 1200 germinating seeds per 1 m 2 .…”