Mastenbroek, H.D.

Soest, L.J.M., van

English

Name not available

Improvement of crambe for agronomic properties

van Soest, L.J.M.

NARCIS 

Wageningen Yield 

IMPROVEMENT OF CRAMBE FOR AGRONOMIC PROPERTIES 
H.D. Mastebroek and L.J.M. van Soest 
Centre for Plant Breeding and Reproduction Research 
P.O. Box 16 
6700 AA Wageningen 
The Netherlands 
Introduction 
Crambe {Crambe abysslnica) is a cruciferous oilseed crop, cultivated 
for its high level (55-58X) of erucic acid (C22:l) in the seed oil. 
Erucic acid and its derivatives can be used in a range of industrial 
applications, e.g. erucamides and lubricants. Crambe is adapted to 
cool climatic conditions and has good agronomic features. In the USA 
the area cultivated with crambe increased in 1993 to 24.000 ha 
(Anonymous, 1993). In the Netherlands a pilot project of 300 ha/year 
was carried out in 1992 and 1993. Future cultivation of crambe 
requires improved varieties adapted to specific environmental 
conditions (van Soest et al., 1993). 
Crambe was first introduced in The Netherlands in 1986 and breeding 
research to improve agronomic and quality characteristics started in 
1990 (Mastebroek et al., 1994). 
Material and methods 
Two late flowering old European varieties with glabrous and two early 
flowering American breeding lines with pubescent leaves were crossed 
following a semi-diallelic scheme. 100 F2 plant progenies (F3 lines) 
of each cross were evaluated in 1992 together with 25 plant progenies 
(parental lines) of each parent. Per line two replicates of one row of 
three metres including 60 plants were planted. The row space was 50 
cm. 
Results and discussion 
* The population means (F3 lines) for the characteristics earliness, 
plant height, relative leaf height, number of primary branches, length 
of the top branch, 1000 seed weight and oil content of the seeds did 
not considerably differ from the mid-parent values. These results 
suggest that these characteristics have an intermediate inheritance. 
* The average seed yield of five crosses significantly exceeded the 
204-
Table 1. Average seed yield (g/m2) of 100 F3 lines and 25 lines of 
both crossing parents of six crosses among four crambe genotypes 
cross 
1 X 2 
1 X 3 
1 X 4 
2 X 3 
2 X 4 
3 X 4 
parents 
PI 
288 
288 
288 
178 
178 
252 
P2 
178 
252 
228 
252 
228 
228 
mid-parent 
value 
233 
270 
258 
215 
203 
240 
F3 
270 
280 
284 
250 
230 
276 
108 172 236 300 
seed yield (g/m2) 
PI + P2 o F3 
364 
Figure 1. Variation for seed yield of 25 lines of both parents and 100 
F3 lines of the cross 1 X 4 . LSD
 0 05 96 g/ma (3 classes). 
205 
mid-parent values and equalled the yield of the highest yielding 
parent (Table 1). This suggests that seed yield is inherited in a 
dominant way. 
* The variation for seed yield exceeded that of the parents in four of 
the six crosses. It is expected that higher yielding genotypes can be 
selected from these four crosses. Figure 1 shows the variation for 
seed yield of the 25 parental lines of both crossing parents and 100 
F3 lines of the cross 1 X 4 . 
* In all six crosses average number of seeds per area exceeded the 
mid-parent values. Seed number was highly correlated with seed yield 
(r- 0.91), indicating that seed yield was highly determined by seed 
number. This can be expected in a stand with a low plant density of 40 
plants per m2. 
* No strong relation was found between seed yield and the other 
evaluated characteristics. 
* Evaluation of the four crosses which segregated for a glabrous and a 
pubescent habit, showed that glabrous lines on average Yielded 9% 
higher than pubescent lines. Segregating lines were just in between. 
This difference depends on the number of seeds produced. No relation 
was found between pubescense and any of the other investigated 
characteristics. 
Conclusions 
Intermating morphological different crambe genotypes increased the 
variation for seed yield considerably. 
The apparently dominant inheritance of seed yield may slow down 
selection progress when lines are selected for seed yield in early 
generations. 
Literature 
Anonymous, 1993. U.S. crambe acreage triples to 60,000 acres. 
Inform, 4, no. 9:1057 
Mastebroek, H.D., S.C. Wallenburg and L.J.M. van Soest, 1994. 
Variation for agronomic characteristics in crambe (Crambe abyssinlca 
Höchst, ex Fries). Industrial Crops and Products, 2: 129-136. 
Soest, L.J.M. van, H.D. Mastebroek and E.P.M, de Meijer, 1993. Genetic 
resources and breeding: a necessity for the success of industrial 
crops. Industrial Crops and Products, 1: 283-288. 
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Improvement of crambe for agronomic properties

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