FATTY-ACID DIVERSITY OF SECTION INFLEXAE LIMNANTHES (MEADOWFOAM)

Meadowfoam (Limnanthes ssp.) is a rich source of unique unsaturated long-chain fatty acids. The commercial crop is based on L. alba (Section Inflexae of the Limnanthaceae). We describe the fatty acid diversity of L. alba and other Section Inflexae taxa. The unsaturated fatty acid percentage for L. alba seed oil was 97.9%. Significant differences were found for 20: 1 Delta 5, 22:1 Delta 5, 22:1 Delta 13, and 22:2 Delta 5 Delta 13 percentage among L. alba half-sib families. The percentage ranges for 20:1 Delta 5, 22:1 Delta 5, 22:1 Delta 13, and 22:2 Delta 5 Delta 13 were 57.6 to 68.8, 2.3 to 6.3, 6.5 to 15.6, and 7.9 to 27.7, respectively. Fatty acid phenotypes different from L. alba were not found within the secondary and tertiary gene pools of L. alba. The heritabilities for 20: 1 Delta 5, 22: 1 Delta 5, 22: 1 Delta 13, and 22:2 Delta 5 Delta 13 within L. alba were 0.73, 0.78, 0.97, and 0.93, respectively. Strong associations were found between S-0 and S-1 fatty acid phenotypes. S-1 lines were developed with 68.1% 20:1 Delta 5, 6.9% 22:1L Delta 5, 23.5% 22:1 Delta 13, and 23.4% 22:2 Delta 5 Delta 13. Induced mutations are needed to develop more extreme phenotypes than those based on natural variants within Section Inflexae.