Oilseeds safflower

Oilcrops Oilseed rape, safflower, Camelina sativa Oil-body purification, sprouting system Lower biomass yields, oil bodies incompatible with glycosylation... 

Safflower In safflower plants expressing biopharmaceuticals, the protein of interest is fused to oleosin, the protein that forms oil bodies within the safflower seeds. The seeds can be crushed and the oil bodies then easily purified by centrifugation. This oleosin-fusion protein system was first developed by SemBioSys Genetics, Inc., in safflower or oilseed rape. 

The mineral content of safflower meal is generally less than that of soybean meal, but safflower meal is a comparable source of Ca and P. Safflower meal is a rich plant source of iron (Darroch, 1990). Compared with other oilseed meals, safflower meal has a relatively poor vitamin profile, but is a good source of biotin, riboflavin and niacin compared to soybean meal (Darroch, 1990). 

Thomas, V.M., Katz, R.J., Auld, D.A., Petersen, C.F., Sauter, E.A. and Steele, E.E. (1983) Nutritional value of expeller extracted rape and safflower oilseed meals for poultry. Poultry Science 62, 882-886. 

The National Institute of Oilseed Products (NIOP) publishes an annual rule book that covers specifications and standards of trade for many vegetable oils, including safflower and oleic safflower. Rules 7.1 g and h (formerly llOg and h) and 7.1 i (formerly 110 i) are the NIOP rules for safflower seed and oleic seed, respectively. When combined with the state of California s official standards for safflower seed, little room exists for argument as to the meaning of a contract between buyer and seller. 

In India much oil is still sold by small mills that simply filter oil from the press and supply the product in small tins or even in the consumer s own vessel. Safflower production is by and large a neighborhood affair in India. While the government is encouraging more production of all types of oilseeds, sunflower, which has much wider adaptation than safflower, enjoyed spectacular increase in production in the 1990s. 

Like safflower seed most safflower oil also is traded under rules established by the National Institute of Oilseed Products, in this case Rule 6.11 and 6.12. Rules for both domestic and export shipments are in force, with the primary difference being that the export rules require more analyses to be performed before payment. Of course, some U.S. buyers, many of whom have never heard of the NIOP, establish their own specifications for the safflower oil they purchase, but by and large their standards meet or exceed the NIOP grades. 

Determining the oil content of safflower seed in the laboratory by solvent extraction is also more difficult than for other oilseeds because of the vast difference in texture of the hull compared to the kernel within. The hull must be cracked or all of the oil will not be extracted. But in cracking the seed, the kernel tends to mash as well and small amounts of oil can be lost in the process, a small amount is important when the sample contains only 5g of seed. Since many people expressed dissatisfaction in safflower oil content analyses, PVO s control laboratory worked for a long time to develop a better method than the standard AOCS procedure (136). This method of analysis is now part of the NIOP rules for safflower (137). 

Although the highest concentrations of phosphohpids occur in animal products, i.e., meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and milk/cheese, the major commercial source is the soybean, which contains 0.3% to 0.6%. Nevertheless, phospholipids from other vegetable oilseeds, i.e., com, cottonseed, linseed, peanut, rapeseed, safflower, and sunflower, and plants have also been smdied and used (5). 

Other Whole Oilseeds. Various oilseeds have been fed whole, or dehulled, when available for feed at competitive prices or in grades substandard for extraction but still wholesome for feeding. Examples include safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), fat content 35%, dmb and oil-type sunflower seed fat content 44%, dmb. Currently, interest is high in feeding whole canola seed (41 6% oil) in Canada and northern European countries. Double-zero strains of Brassica napus (rapeseed, oilseed rape, swede rape, and Argentine rape) and Brassica campestris (turnip rape, oil... 

Safflower is a minor oilseed crop limited in production by environmental constraints and by the plant s spiny nature. Unless the seed is well dehulled, the oilcake resulting from oil extraction will have a high fiber content. Undecorticated oil cake has a protein content of 20-22% and an end use as manure. In contrast, removal of the hull improves the protein content to 40%, making it acceptable as cattle feed despite low lysine levels. Leftover hulls and husks are added to cattle feed or are used to manufacture cellulose, insulation, and abrasives (5, 49). 

Small oilseeds, such as flaxseed, perilla, rapeseed, and sesame, are often handled without decortication because of processing difficulties. Although several decortication installations were tried on safflower, they were not very successful (26). Sunflower is usually decorticated however, the final decision to do so depends on the meal market available to the oil mill and if economical uses for hulls can be found (27, 28). 

Preliminary field trials with canola were promising (106, 107). Subsequent work with canola and other oilseeds showed that this new machine, the Hivex expander, can process full-fat safflower (at 42% oil), sunflower (at 42-44% oU), peanut (at 45% oil), and some varieties of full-fat canola and rapeseed as well as cottonseed. Typical preparation prior to extrusion of safflower, sunflower, and peanut is to crack to approximately 1.6 mm (0.0625 in.) particles, or flake heat to approximately 60-71.1°C (140-160°F) and reduce moisture to approximately 8% without denaturing the protein. Canola and rapeseed, being small seeds and low in protein, need to be flaked as thin as possible, 0.15 mm (0.006 in.) if practical. Canola flakes thicker than 0.25-0.3 mm (0.010-0.012 in.) do not extrude very well. If seed protein is denatured too much before extmsion, the canola collets will be loose and crumbly. 

Field trials with canola (65) and other oilseeds (66) show that the slotted-wall expander could extrude full-fat oilseeds at high oil levels and produce collets at 20-30% oil. Such expanders are used on full-fat safflowers, sunflower, peanut, canola, and rapeseed. The oilseeds are prepared by drying, or by cooking and drying and flaking, similar to the way they are for screw-pressing. The slotted-wall... 

As previously mentioned, the triglycerides found in biomass are esters of the triol, glycerol, and fatty acids (Fig. 3.6). These water-insoluble, oil-soluble esters are common in many biomass species, especially the oilseed crops, but the concentrations are small compared to those of the polysaccharides and lignins. Many saturated fatty acids have been identified as constituents of the lipids. Surprisingly, almost all the fatty acids that have been found in natural lipids are straight-chain acids containing an even number of carbon atoms. Most lipids in biomass are esters of two or three fatty acids, the most common of which are lauric (Cn), myristic (Cu), palmitic (Cia), oleic (Cis), and linoleic (Cis) acids. Palmitic acid is of widest occurrence and is the major constituent (35 to 45%) of the fatty acids of palm oil. Lauric acid is the most abundant fatty acid of palm-kemel oil (52%), coconut oil (48%), and babassu nut oil (46%). The monounsaturated oleic acid and polyunsaturated linoleic acid comprise about 90% of sunflower oil fatty acids. Linoleic acid is the dominant fatty acid in com oil (55%), soybean oil (53%), and safflower oil (75%). Saturated fatty acids of 18 or more carbon atoms are widely distributed, but are usually present in biomass only in trace amounts, except in waxes. 

A combination of mechanical and solvent extraction is often applied to oilseeds with high oil content, e.g., sunflower, safflower, com germ, and canola. The most efficient method of extracting the oil is mechanically expelling about 60% of the oil and then using solvent extraction of the remaining oil. 

Weselake, R.L, M.K. Pomeroy, T.L. Furukawa, l.L. Golden, D.B. Little, and A. Laroche. 1993. Developmental profile of diacylglycerol acyltransferase in maturing seeds of oilseed rape and safflower and microspore-derived cultures of oilseed rape. Plant Physiol. 102 565-571. 

Harvest losses of safflower can be one to live times the recommended seeding rate. Safflower seeds have some short-term sprouting resistance but no seed dormancy, which limits persistence in the soil seed bank. This oilseed is attractive to seed predators, including small mammals and birds (personal observation), which may reduce seed density but may facilitate transport of seed from the field. The distance and amount of seed transported by animals have not been quantified, and the fate of transported seed is unknown. Volunteer populations are restricted to the first follow year in conventional fields. Although they can be controlled by conventional herbicides in subsequent crops, there is the potential for survivors to flower, set viable seed, and contribute to both PMGF and SMGF. 

Acyl-ACP Desaturation. The first step in cts-vaccenate biosynthesis is desaturation of pabnitoyl-ACP to palmi-toleoyl-ACP. Cahoon et al. (10) have cloned the gene for acyl-ACP desaturase from Asclepias syriaca and demonstrated that it had mixed specificity, i.e., it could effectively desaturate palmitoyl-ACP and stearoyl-ACP. This is in contrast to normal oilseeds (which do not produce c -vacce-nate) such as safflower in which the acyl-ACP desaturase is highly specific for stearoyl-ACP (9). 

The rapeseed breeding program at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, was initiated in 1953. Soybeans, sunflowers and safflowers were evaluated as potential edible oilseed crops for several years. Work on these crops was discontinued when it became evident that rapeseed was the best adapted edible oilseed for large-scale production in the Prairie Provinces. Since 1966, the plant breeder at Winnipeg has devoted most of his time to rape-seed. In 1958, a chemist joined the staff. The staff now includes one breeder, a chemist, and a pathologist. 

Plant oils from different oilseeds can have quite different fatty acid compositions (Table 9.2) and accordingly would be expected to have different effects on milk fat CLA concentrations. Comparisons between different types of plant oils suggest that those rich in linoleic acid inaease CLA concentration most effectively (6,20, 42). Therefore, it would be anticipated that cottonseed, soybean, sunflower, and safflower oils would have the greatest effect, although a variety of other plaut oil supplements, such as linseed (39) and rapeseed (35) oil (42), have also been used successfully to enrich the CLA content of cow s mUk. 

The oil crops have been cultivated since antiquity. Rapeseed was described in the Indian Sanskrit writings of 2000 Bc and sesame seed was already known in ancient times. For the past half century, the cultivation of oil-bearing plants has increased considerably. There are several species of plants in the world whose oil can be utiUzed for human consumption. Although Lennarts (1983) described forty different oilseeds, there are only ten edible oil crops of commercial value in the world market. Seven of these are seed crops (cottonseed, groundnuts, rapeseed, safflower seed, sesame seed, soybeans and sunflower seed), and three are tree crops (coconut, olives and oil palm/kemels). Cultivation of several of these crops (coconut with copra, and oil palm/palm kernels) is limited almost exclusively to developing countries, where the most favourable climatic and soil conditions are available. However, some are annual crops and some are perennial (tree) crops, and these have very different possibilities of responding to changes in the world market. 

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