Objectives
- To screen a large portion of the PGRC world collection for mucilage content.
- To investigate variation and environmental influence on mucilage content in flax cultivars adapted to western Canadian growing conditions.
Project Description
Mucilage content in the flax seed coat has recently received increased attention because (1) low mucilage contents are desirable when using linseed or linseed meal for feeding poultry or fish and (2) high mucilage content could potentially help to establish a new market for this by-product of linseed production. The viscosity of a water extract from intact linseed was used as an indirect measurement of the mucilage content to screen 1689 accessions contained in the flax collection at Plant Gene Resources of Canada (PGRC). A wide range of variation for the seed extract viscosity was found and the mucilage indicator value ranged from 22 to 343 cS*ml/g. The group displaying the highest seed extract viscosity included recently registered Canadian cultivars. A multi-location test with 16 North American flax cultivars registered in Canada and a Canadian breeding line was conducted during 2001 and 2002 at Morden, Indian Head, Melfort and Saskatoon to investigate the environmental influence on mucilage content. A ranking of the 16 entries regarding the mucilage content was established. The variation observed in these breeding lines ranged from 90.6 to 246.l cS*ml/g. The mucilage contents were higher in the warmer growing season 2002 than in 2001. Several other environmental factors impact the mucilage content as the influences of location, and interactions among year, location and entry were found to be significant. The range of diversity in the registered Canadian cultivars for mucilage content is considerable and Canadian
producers could respond to different market needs for mucilage content by growing cultivars with high or low mucilage content.
Grower Benefits
The wide range for mucilage content found in established Canadian linseed cultivars showed that Canadian farmers are already in position to respond to different market-needs regarding mucilage content in the flax seed coat. Some linseed cultivars displayed low viscosity of the seed extract (‘AC McDuff’, ‘AC Carnduff’, ‘CDC Arras’) while other cultivars had high seed extract viscosity (‘AC Emerson’, ‘AC Watson’, ‘Norlin’). A screening of the PGRC world collection identified genetic resources with even lower or higher values for seed extract viscosity. This germplasm may be useful in plant breeding if the mucilage content in the seed coat becomes of economic importance.
