High erucic acid rapeseed cultivar development

Herbicide-Tolerant High-Erucic Acid Rapeseed CuLTivAR Development... 

Oro was Canada s first B. napus low-erucic acid rapeseed cultivar, developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saskatoon, and released in 1968 (Stefansson and Downey 1995). Oro was developed by pedigree selection in the progeny from the cross of Nugget x Liho. It had an erucic acid concentration of less than 5% and a high glucosinolate concentration of over 150 pmol/g air-dried, oil-free meal. 

The success of plant breeders to develop rapeseed cultivars practically devoid of erucic acid stands out as an accomplishment to the potential of genetic manipulation in plants to remove chemical constituents (see Chapter 6). The oil from these new cultivars of rapeseed has an entirely different fatty acid composition compared to the older cultivars of rapeseed, and hence by right should be considered as a new vegetable oil. For example, a typical Canadian and European high erucic acid rapeseed (FHEAR) oil, like mustard oil, is rich in erucic (22 1 n-9) and gandoic (20 1 n-9) acids, while the new low erucic acid rapeseed (LEAR) oil is rich in oleic acid (18 1 n-9) (Table I). The fatty acid composition of LEAR oil resembles that of peanut and olive oil except for linolenic acid (18 3 n-3), which is found in soybean oil at a similar level. 

A High-Erucic Acid, Low-Glucosinolate Rapeseed (HEAR) Cultivar Development in Canada... 

Stefansson, B.R. (1983) The development of improved rapeseed cultivars, in High and Low Erucic Acid Rapeseed Oils, eds. J.K.G. Kramer, F.D. Sauer and W.J. Pidgen, Academic Press, New York, pp. 143-159. 

McVetty, P.B.E., Fernando, W.G.D., Tahir, M., Zelmer, C., 2009. High erucic acid, low glucosinolate rapeseed (HEAR) cultivar development in Canada. In Hou, C.T., Shaw, I.-F. (Eds.), Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology. Taylor and Frands, Boca Raton, Horida, pp. 43-62. 

It was more difficult to develop low erucic acid cultivars for northern Europe because most of the rapeseed in this area is derived from winter rape. European cultivars were highly developed for seed and oil yield more time was required to grow a plant from seed to maturity because a cold treatment (vernalization) was required so that the plant could proceed from vegetative to reproductive development. Furthermore, a characteristic had to be transferred from summer rape to winter rape, a cross that produces a... 

The changeover to rapeseed cultivars that produce seed oil low in erucic acid is essentially complete in most European countries. Cultivars low in both erucic acid and glucosinolates are being developed in several European countries. The development of canola cultivars has been somewhat slower in Europe than in Canada due to the necessity of transferring the canola characteristics to highly developed cultivars of winter forms of the crop. Some commercial production of winter canola is expected in Europe in... 

Most of the rapeseed produced in the Orient is of the traditional kind, high in both erucic acid and glucosinolates. Little attention appears to have been given to the development of canola cultivars. Perhaps the need to increase food supplies discourages the deployment of resources for work on quality. Prakash (1980) suggests that alteration of the composition of the oil and meal is one of a number of possible future trends in India. The recent increase in international contacts probably will stimulate the development of canola cultivars in China. 

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