Abstract
ABSTRACT Brassica oilseed species are becoming increasingly popular for industrial uses, with emphasis on biodiesel. It is of importance to evaluate the yield and oil production potential of nontraditional oilseeds for use as feedstock in Brazil. In this study, growth, yield, and oil content and their correlations were determined for eight accessions of B. juncea and B. rapa in two years under tropical conditions of southeastern Brazil. Significant variation was observed between B. juncea and B. rapa accessions for yield components and oil content. B. rapa was the earliest maturing and had the highest oil content, whereas B. juncea had the highest number of pods and the highest yield and oil yield. Brassica rapa accessions flowered early, with an average cycle of 97 days, whereas B. juncea reached maturation after 110 days on average. Accessions were grouped according to the oil content of each species, with the most promising accessions having an oil content of 45–47%. Accessions of Brassica species had high oil yields, reaching 910 kg ha-1 of oil yield for B. juncea PI 180266. There was a linear correlation between oil content and thousand seed weight, pod length, and seeds per pod of the Brassica species accessions. Considering oil content and oil yield across years, Brassica species show promise as alternative oilseed crops for biodiesel production in tropical conditions.
Highlights
The genus Brassica has attracted interest in the industrial and food sectors because it comprises species that are the third-largest source of oil in the world (McVetty and Duncan 2015)
Brassica napus is the only Brassica species cultivated in Brazil due to its ability to adapt to tropical conditions
In 2016, over 70% of annual rainfall occurred before flowering, which resulted in higher vegetative growth and did not affect the crop cycle. These results indicate that regions with high precipitation in winter (July), as is the case of southern Brazil, may have problems with the cultivation of some Brassica species
Summary
The genus Brassica has attracted interest in the industrial and food sectors because it comprises species that are the third-largest source of oil in the world (McVetty and Duncan 2015). The species is grown in autumn and winter in order to produce high-quality oil in the colder regions of southern Brazil. The cultivation of this species is still insufficient to meet the demand for oil for human consumption. For large-scale industrial applications, raw materials should compete minimally with food production (Johnson et al 2007). An example of such competition is canola quality B. napus oil, which if grown for biofuel would compete directly with food-related production (Hossain et al 2019)
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