A comparative study of the characteristics of fibre-flax (Linum usitatissimum)

The Linum core collection of Plant Research International, Wageningen (now The Centre for Genetic Resources, The Netherlands), includes a range of varieties, cultivars, landraces and accessions of fibre-flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) for example from Europe, North and South America, Asia and Australia. Small plots of each were sown on one of Plant Research International's trials sites in The Netherlands in 2001. Samples of around 1000 plants were pulled by hand at maturity in early August, and returned to the UK for evaluation. Characteristics of importance in fibre extraction, processing and use were compared for a range of accessions and interim results show significant differences between them in many of the parameters investigated. Mean stem diameters ranged from 1.04 +/- 0.08 to 1.58 +/- 0.09 mm; stem diameter CV ranged from 0.19 to 0.34; mean total fibre content ranged from 17.4 to 36.8%; stem lignin content ranged from 17 to 21%; the removal of shive from a single decortication pass ranged from 64 to 86%; mean fibre diameter ranged from 19 to 27 mum; and the Micronaire value for fibre fineness ranged from 6.4 to 7.8. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.