Abstract
AbstractA total of 1116 accessions of cultivatedBrassica spp. from four collections were evaluated for fatty acid composition to identify variants which would be useful in plant improvement programs. The accessions included lines ofB. campestris L.,B. napus L.,B. oleracea L. andB. carinata Braun obtained from the USDA collections at Ames, IA, Pullman, WA, and Geneva, NY, as well as the Centre for Genetic Resources‐the Netherlands (CGN) at Wageningen, Netherlands. Fatty acid composition of each accession was determined by using gas chromatography. The range, mean, standard deviation and frequency distributions were calculated for the seven primary fatty acids found in the accessions from each collection.Fatty acid profiles of the four species were very similar. Except for levels of erucic acid in the oilseed accessions ofB. campestris andB. napus, only limited economic variation in fatty acid composition was evident. These data suggest that in theseBrassica species the fatty acid profile has been tightly conserved. Estimated energy obtained by β‐oxidation of a high erucic acid rapeseed (HEAR) oil was 13.8% higher than for a low erucic acid rapeseed (LEAR) oil. The higher energy levels of oils containing high levels of erucic acid may have played a significant role in survival and adaptation of these extremely small seedBrassica species. This may explain why such limited variation in fatty acid composition was found in these extensive and diverse collections.
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