Cultivar of oil flax Y 220

The oil flax cultivar Y 220 is developed by a method of individual selection from a line k4165 at severe background after 6-field flax monocrop. It was estimated by resistance to fusariose in epicentrum of fusariose infection and to flax sickness at monocrop cultivation. Due to results of variety trials for 2019–2020, the cultivar Y 220 exceeded the standard cultivar FLIZ by yield by 0.77 t per ha. Plant height is 80–90 cm. Vegetative period is 75–80 days. Weight of 1000 seeds is equal to 6.02–6.06 g. Seeds color is brown. Oil content is 44.4%; linolenic acid content is lowered (23.3%). The cultivar Y 220 is differed with full resistance to flax sickness and high field resistance to fusarium wilt. This makes it possible to cultivate it in short crop rotations and at monocrop.

Fiber flax germination at different temperatures and salinity stress conditions

In this study the fiber flax (Linum usitassimum L.) cultivar Lirina was tested to seed germination under salinity of NaCl and two different temperatures. The experiment was set up in controlled conditions in fitotron (Aralab). There were two temperatures (10°C and 20°C) and different NaCl water solution used for salinity stress: 0 mM, 20 mM, 40 mM, 60 mM, 80 mM and 100 mM. There were 100 seeds sown in 4 replications. The germination energy (%) and germination rate (%) were determined on 3rd and 7th day, respectively. At the lower temperature (10°C) the seeds were not sprouted on 3rd day, whereas at higher temperature (20°C) mean germination energy was 31%. Germination rate (7th day) was quite similar at both temperatures (58% at 10°C and 59% at 20°C). The higher salinity stress of 80 and 100 mM had negative influence on germination energy as well germination rate. With increased salinity, the total seedlings length was also decreased. With increasing salinity (over 20 mM), the total seedlings length was also decreased. In out study, low salinity stress of 20 mM even increases the germination rate and germination energy and resulted with the longest seedlings of the fiber flax cultivar Lirina.

Worldwide gene pool of fiber flax at VIR, and breeding of rust-resistant varieties

Background. There are strict requirements for a modern flax cultivar. It must have a whole set of valuable characters, including rust resistance.Materials and methods. The flax collection of 2485 accessions held by VIR was evaluated using artificial provocative infection.Results. Almost all domestic and foreign accessions and varieties collected before 1957 were highly or extremely susceptible to rust. Five Russian kryazhs1 and cv. ‘GDS-3’ developed at VIR were found to retain rust resistance up to the present moment. Lines derived from them and from three foreign varieties, with an identified number of the original effective R genes, were submitted to breeders. Nineteen donors with a set of economically useful traits, analogous to cvs. ‘Orshansky 2’ and ‘Prizyv 81’ and carrying the same genes, were produced and distributed to breeders. The VIR collection holds 10 donors of rust resistance with high fiber content developed at the All-Russian Research Institute of Flax. Some donors of resistance to other diseases released by the same Institute also possess high rust resistance, thus forming a rich stock of source material. The first cultivar relatively resistant to rust (‘L-1120’) was released in 1951. Possessing polygenic resistance, it was also resistant to Fusarium wilt and lodging, so it was widely used for breeding other cultivars with similar characteristics. As their cultivation expanded, the harvest losses caused by rust dropped. The first rust-resistant cultivar with oligogenic resistance (‘Tomsky 16’) appeared in 1990. By now, many cultivars protected by R genes of rust resistance have been developed. They combine this trait with resistance to Fusarium and lodging, high yield, and high fiber content. Flax rust incidence is not a problem anymore.Conclusion. Plant breeders have at their disposal a rich stock of source material preserved in the VIR collection to produce resistant flax cultivars. The use of rust resistance donors in hybridization cannot disrupt the most important properties of a cultivar.

Optimization of linseed cultivation, a promising way to enhance its secoisolariciresinol diglucoside lignan content

There is strong evidence on the anticancer properties of secolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG), the predominant flaxseed lignan, especially for mammary and prostatic carcinomas. Although the effect of cultivar and location on flaxseed SDG level has been reported, much less is traced regarding the influence of agronomical treatments. The purpose of this study is to determine if agricultural management practices could enhance SDG accumulation in flaxseed. We studied the effect of irrigation frequencies (I), added nutrients (N, zinc and humic acid) and fertilization treatments (F) and their interactions on SDG level and seed yield of the Egyptian flax cultivar Giza 9. Samples were extracted and analyzed for SDG, after alkaline hydrolysis, using HPLC-UV method. The concentration of SDG and its yield varied between 415.55-845.95 mg/100 g whole seeds and 1.77-4.05 Kg/feddan on a dry weight basis, respectively according to different agricultural treatments. I, N and F factors and their interactions had a significant effect on SDG. I × N × F interaction contributed to the majority of SDG variation (31.81 %), followed by I factor (27.96 %), whereas seed yield was more affected by F factor (72.7 %). The I × F interaction was the only significant interaction on the seed yield contributing only for 0.43% of the variance. Moderate irrigation frequency with the humic acid foliar application and mineral nitrogen fertilizer was the best combination for achieving the highest SDG levels. Using optimum agronomic practice would benefit the nutraceutical industry by optimizing flaxseed lignan content and hence enhancing its anticancer, health-promoting effect.

A 1H NMR study of the fatty acid distribution in developing flax bolls before and after a cooking treatment

Flax is an important Canadian crop that contains a large percentage of fatty acids (FAs) by seed weight. Gas chromatography (GC) methods have traditionally been used to study FA distributions in oil seed crops. These methods, however, require sample preparation involving saponification and methyl ester formation. Recently, 1H NMR has been shown to be an excellent way to directly measure FA distributions in edible oils using a nondestructive and experimentally faster methodology. As such, we have examined the FA profiles in developing bolls of flax cultivar AC McDuff using 1H NMR and assessed the effect of cooking on FA stability and distribution. The data confirmed the high percentage of linolenic acid in mature AC McDuff flax seed compared to early stages of development and showed that FAs at early stages of boll development are more prone to thermal degradation. Triacylglycerol was found to be important to FA stability to heat. It was also observed that the FAs did not convert from cis to trans under the cooking process used herein. The usefulness of 1H NMR spectroscopy in oils chemistry is highlighted.

Lignans in Flaxseed

Lignans are phytoestrogens which are present in a wide variety of plants. Epidemiological studies indicate that phytoestrogen-rich diets reduce risk of various hormone-dependent cancers, heart disease, and osteroporosis. One of the reachest dietary sources of lignans are flaxseeds, with glycosides of secoisolariciresinol (SECO) and matairesinol (MAT) as the major components. In this study LC-MS/MS method for the determination of plant lignans SECO and MAT in flaxseed was developed for analysis of a wide range of samples: (<I>I</I>) nine cultivars of oil flax treated with two types of fertilisers containing humic acids and <I>(ii</I>) fibre flax cultivar Venica fertilized with preparations containing various amounts of zinc. The levels of major phytoestrogen, SECO, were in range 2312–6994 mg/kg in oil flax and 1570–3100 mg/kg in fibre flax. The content of MAT was significantly lower, ranging from 3 to 9 in oil flax and 7–27 mg/kg in fibre flax.