Correlation studies on oil content and fatty acid profile of some Cruciferous species

Mean individual fatty acid concentration among different species of the family Cruciferae are not similar because of the presence of different kind of significant relationship among the individual fatty acids. Brassica napus L., Sinapis alba L., Raphanus caudatus L. f. Raphanus sativus L. and B. nigra (L.) Koch are comparatively low erucic acid (<40%) containing species. Crambe abyssinica Hochst. ex. R. E. Fries collections gave as high as 60% erucic acid. Low erucic acid concentration was found associated with the presence of high level of palmitic and oleic acid concentrations. Erucic acid concentrations were found varied within the range of 42 to 57% among the collections of Brassica rapa L. and B. carinata A. Braun. All the collections of B. nigra (L.) Koch were found to have higher proportion of linoleic acid than the corresponding oleic acid concentration. Linolenic acid concentrations of B. nigra (L.) Koch was also higher in comparison to other species of the Cruciferae. Raphanus collections were found to contain higher levels of total saturated fatty acids as well as eicosenoic acid. Oil content of the total collections under present study did not show any significant relationship either with linolenic acid or with erucic acid concentration. But significant positive relationship was observed between total oil and erucic acid level within the collections of B. juncea Czern. & Coss. Similarly significant negative correlation was observed between total oil and linolenic acid content in Brassica rapa L. ssp. trilocularis (Roxb.) Hanelt, yellow sarson.