CANADIAN LINSEED: I. THE EFFECT OF VARIETY AND ENVIRONMENT ON THE COMPOSITION OF LINSEED

Abstract

Data for oil content, nitrogen, iodine value, 1000-kernel weight, and refractive indices of extracted and expressed oil were determined on three varieties of flax, i.e. Bison, Royal, and Redwing, grown at 35 stations in Saskatchewan. Varietal differences were demonstrated for all properties with the exception of total nitrogen, and significant differences were obtained for all properties due to the effect of environment.Within varieties, highly significant simple correlation coefficients were obtained between iodine value (Hanus) and refractive indices of both expressed and extracted oils. Analysis of residual variance showed that varietal regressions did not differ significantly and prediction equations applicable with equal validity to all three varieties could be derived. Partial correlation coefficients, independent of nitrogen, indicate that these associations are independent of the latter property. A significant association (r =.497**) between oil content and 1000-kernel weight proved to be due to common association of these properties with total nitrogen.A simple intravarietal correlation coefficient of r = −.817** was obtained between nitrogen and oil content. Analysis of residual variance indicated that varietal regressions did not differ in slope and that on the average an increase of 1% in nitrogen was associated with a decrease of 2.45% in oil content. Oil content may be estimated with a standard error of ± 0.57% from the equation, oil content = −2.54 nitrogen + A, where A is a varietal constant.** Indicates that the 1% level of significance was attained.