Agronomic potential of two European pennycress accessions as a winter crop under European Mediterranean conditions

Abstract

The growing interest in oilseed crops for sustainable biofuel production has promoted the exploration of new plant species with high oil content and quality. One of these species is pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.; Brassicaceae), a winter annual plant that, due to the characteristics of its seed oil, has a great potential as feedstock for advanced biofuels. However, pennycress is not cultivated in Europe and, in contrast to the USA, the research has been very scarce, especially regarding its agronomic behaviour and production. In this work we performed a comparative analysis of the agronomic potential of two pennycress accessions of European origin (French and NASC), with respect to two from USA (Beecher and Elizabeth), to be cultivated under Mediterranean agroclimatic conditions. Stand establishment, growth, and yield data of the four pennycress accessions were collected during two growing seasons (2016−17 and 2017−18) in experimental fields situated in Aragon (NE Spain). The European accessions had less germination success than those from USA (20−50 % less). However, the seed yield of the French accession was similar or superior to that of USA origin (730–1390 vs 500−1340 ha−1). This was because French plants were able to compensate for the lower plant density with increased production of tillers and inflorescences. The other European short cycle accession, NASC, requires further research to understand and overcome its erratic germination and low seed yield. In terms of seed oil and erucic acid content, higher variability was found between the growing seasons than among the pennycress accessions, suggesting that weather conditions, especially rainfall distribution, have a pronounced effect on seed, oil and erucic acid yield and must be considered for growing pennycress in Europe.