INHERITANCE OF QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF OIL IN FLAX IN RELATION TO OTHER PLANT CHARACTERS

Abstract

Data from 21 varieties of flax, grown at the Central Experimental Farm over a five-year period, were analyzed statistically to determine the relation of quantity and quality of oil to seed size, days to maturity, days from flowering to maturity, and height of plant. In addition, hybrids of Cyprus × Ottawa 770B and Buda × Ottawa 770B were studied to determine the genetic basis for the inheritance of quality of oil, flower type, color of seed, color of oil, seed size and height of plant.The refractometric method for determining the quantity and quality of oil was compared with the ether extraction method for oil content and the Wijs method for iodine number and found to be very practical for breeding studies.In the variety test, high oil content was associated with a long period from blossoming to maturity and with large-seeded varieties.In the hybrids, iodine number, seed size, and height of plant are apparently dependent on several genetic factors. No significant association between oil content, iodine number, seed size or height of plant was found among these hybrids. The inheritance of flower and seed type has been explained on the basis of a single factor, the Ottawa 770B type with white, narrow, involute petal and greenish-yellow seed being inherited as a simple recessive or the expression of several very closely linked recessive genes. An association of high iodine number with this factor for yellow seed color was indicated in both hybrids.Although insufficient data were collected to give definite conclusions, evidence indicated that color of oil, as measured by carotinoid pigment content, had a genetic basis. No correlation was indicated between carotene pigment content and the quantity and quality of the oil or color of the seed.