Oilseed crop Crambe

Chhikara, S., Duttaa, L, Paulosea, B., Jaiwalb, P.K., Dhankhera, O.P, 2012. Development of an Agrobacterium-mediated stable transformation method for industrial oilseed crop Crambe abyssinica BelAnn . Ind. Crops Prod. 37, 457-465. 

Li, X.Y., Ahlman, A., Yan, X.F., Lindgren, H., Zhu, L.H., 2010. Genetic transformation of the oilseed crop Crambe abyssinica. Plant Cell Tissue Organ Cult 100, 149-156. 

New oilseed crops, currently studied as potential sources of specialty fatty acids, include Crambe abyssinica for erucic acid, Limnanthes alba for very long-chain fatty acids, Dimorphotheca pluvialis for dimor-phecolic acid, Lesquerella fendleri for les-querolic acid, Calendula officinalis for calendic acid, and Euphorbia lagascae and various Vernonia species for vernolic acid.194 The lowest cost sources (inedible fats and oils and palm oil fractions) are likely most likely to be exhausted first as world trade in industrial applications grows. Cornstarch is becoming a major feedstock for plastics production. This may compete with potential oil uses, but also will increase production of com oil. 

Despite the increasing interest in minor oilseed crops there are no examples at the present time of any major growth areas. There is however some commercial interest in crops such as evening primrose, cuphea, Chinese vegetable tallow, crambe and certain species of vernonia. 

A search (Princen, 1989) for new oilseed crops with more advantageous oil composition has led to the development of excellent candidates which are now commercially accepted. Among these are Crambe, Limanthes, Veronica, Sapium and Simmondsia. Other crops are at a much lower stage of development but also have excellent potential. These include Cuphea, Foeniculum, Stokesian, Lesquerella and Lunaria. An effective crop evolution usually takes more than a decade. 

Beginning in 1979, research on different oils was undertaken. Experimental oils from potential new oilseed crops, suggested by the USDA, were investigated. In particular, epoxy-bearing oils from vernonia (1) as well as chemically epoxidized linseed, crambe, lunaria, and lesquerella oils were used (1,17). 

Crambe is not a new oilseed crop, but it has been seriously reconsidered in the recent years as a dedicated industrial oil crop. Yet, compared with other... 

Oil crops should be able to produce erucamide so High Eracic Acid Rape (HEAR) varieties and Crambe are the two that are most common. HEAR is grown the same as conventional double-low rape (see Chapter 14) and Crambe is similar to spring oilseed rape in its requirements. Crambe Crambe abyssinica) is a member of the mustard family. The oil contains about 58% emcic acid and the seed coat is high in glucosinolates so must be removed before the meal is suitable for animal feed, and can then be used as a fibre source for low grade paper production. 

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