INVESTIGATION AND USE OF THE LITHUANIAN FLAX GENETIC RESOURCES IN THE BREEDING PROGRAMS

The profusion, diversity and value of genetic resources significantly contribute to the success of flax breeding. Of special value are genotypes of local origin, highly adapted to the local climatic and soil conditions. Storage of genetic resources in Lithuania was started in 1994-1995. During the period 1995-1997 25 flax varieties and local accessions were studied at the Upytė Research Station of LIA. In 1998-2000 we tested 21 varieties and breeding lines, in 2001-2002 18 accessions, in 2003-2004 12 accessions. The best genotypes were included in flax breeding programs. About 50 genotypes have been transferred to the Gene Bank of the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture after assessment for biological-agronomical characters following UPOV descriptors

STEM CRUSHING - AN ECO-FRIENDLY WAY TO EFFECT ON FLAX DEW-RETTING

Preparation of flax raw material - retted straw - is becoming more and more problematical since the straw is prepared by way of dew-retting, because this run under the open sky and fully couldn’t be controlled, and this concludes in insufficient fibre quality. Besides of this, during the flax pulling process part of the stems is caught by the belts of the pulling combine LKV-4T and consequently is damaged (crushed). Thus fibre separation in this part of the stem usually runs more quickly and the quality of flax fibre along the stem becomes uneven. Top-part of the stem is damaged by thrashing apparatus. Furthermore, we should remember that the shape offlax stem is a cone, and dew-retting process at flax foot part takes much longer than at the top or at the strongly damaged middle part of the stem. The influence of crushing of fibre flax stems and desiccation was investigated at the Upyte Research Station of LIA in 2003. Special crushing apparatus was assembled on the flax combine LKV-4T. Desiccated with glyphosate and non-desiccated flax stems were crushed during pulling. The quality of fibre after stem crushing was higher

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FIBRE FLAX YIELD AND DIFFERENT FORMS OF NITROGEN IN THE SOIL

Research on fibre flax yield response to the amount of different nitrogen forms in the soil was carried out at the Upytė Research Station of the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture (LIA). Humus content (as a source of nitrogen) (%), total nitrogen (%), ammonium nitrogen (NH4+) (mg kg-1), nitrate nitrogen (NO3-) (mg kg-1), total mineral nitrogen (Nmin) (mg kg-1) were measured in the soil samples collected from the plough layer, and the correlation between the mentioned - above soil variables and fibre flax yield was calculated. In most cases the relationships were weak but significant. Seed, stem, and long fibre yields responded to the soil nitrogen differently. The strongest correlation was established between flax yield and humus content

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FIBRE FLAX YIELD AND DIFFERENT FORMS OF NITROGEN IN THE SOIL

Research on fibre flax yield response to the amount of different nitrogen forms in the soil was carried out at the Upytė Research Station of the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture (LIA). Humus content (as a source of nitrogen) (%), total nitrogen (%), ammonium nitrogen (NH4+) (mg kg-1), nitrate nitrogen (NO3-) (mg kg-1), total mineral nitrogen (Nmin) (mg kg-1) were measured in the soil samples collected from the plough layer, and the correlation between the mentioned - above soil variables and fibre flax yield was calculated. In most cases the relationships were weak but significant. Seed, stem, and long fibre yields responded to the soil nitrogen differently. The strongest correlation was established between flax yield and humus content

Nettle Fibers as a Potential Natural Raw Material for Textile in Latvia

In Europe, attention is devoted to the methods of obtaining nettle fibers for technical textiles. Several new nettle plant clones have been created. From wild nettles they differ in the higher number of fibers. The nettle can be grown for 10 – 15 years in one place without much care. The wild nettle grows in Latvia very well. Therefore, the task has been to determine the possibility of cultivating nettle in Latvia for fiber needs. It has been determined that the obtained yield of fiber is less than that of flax and hemp. Experimental results have shown that the bast content in nettle straws is approximately 20%. Average fiber strength is similar to that of flax and hemp fiber – 33-58 cN/tex. It has been also determined that from older plants more fibers can be obtained and they are even stronger. The increase in the plant spacing distance not only decreases the number of nettle fibers but also their mechanical properties

Fibre and Seed Productivity of Industrial Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) Varieties under Mediterranean Conditions

Farmers’ interest in renewable raw materials such as hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) fibres has recently increased, but hemp productivity is strongly affected by genotype and environment conditions. A 3-year field experiment was conducted under Mediterranean environment in northern Greece to evaluate the productivity (regarding fibres and seeds) of six monoecious hemp varieties. The vars. Futura 75 and Bialobrzeskie provided the greatest (p < 0.01) fibre productivity (4.57 and 4.27 t ha−1, respectively), which were 77.1% and 65.5%, respectively, greater than that of the least productive var. Fedora 17. However, the vars. Santhica 27, Tygra and Bialobrzeskie provided the highest (p < 0.05) seed yield (2.7, 2.9 and 2.6 t ha−1, respectively), which were 28.6%, 38.1% and 23.8%, respectively, greater than that of the least productive var. Futura 75. Hemp fibre yield was strongly positively correlated with total biomass (R2 = 0.8612) and stem biomass yield (R2 = 0.9742), while it was inversely correlated with fibre strength (R2 = 0.424). Hemp seed yield was not correlated with the hemp plant density, height, total biomass or stem biomass yield. The six hemp genotypes evaluated in the study had Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content lower than 0.2% satisfying the European legislation requirements for industrial hemp varieties. The results of the study indicated that, under Mediterranean conditions (northern Greece), the var. Bialobrzeskie showed high productivity, as averaged across years, for both fibres and seeds. This result is very helpful for farmers which should prefer hemp varieties of dual-purpose production (stems and inflorescences or stems and seeds) adapted best to their local environment

Fiber Flax Breeding in China and Europe

In Western Europe fiber flax breeding was started in the Netherlands in 1816, and pedigree selection was introduced in 1900 in the Netherlands also. Therefore, the commercial breeding of fiber flax started at the end of the 19th century. Flax breeding in other European countries started in the early 20th century. Before Western European variety became available, European varieties seeds were imported from Russia. In China, breeding work on fiber flax began at 1950s. After the end of the 20th century, flax breeding technologies developed more rapidly. The flax breeding methods now include hybridization, induced mutation, interspecific hybridization, utilization of male-sterility, ploidy breeding, tissue culture, gene transformation, marker assisted selection, etc. Despite of new breeding methods, the cross breeding is still the main breeding method for fiber flax. The history of flax breeding, germplasm collection, breeding goals, breeding programs, breeding methods, and new varieties are presented in the article. Some problems about flax breeding were analyzed, and some suggestions were presented