Some yield components and ideotype traits in meadowfoam,a new industrial oil crop

Summary Three populations of Limnanthes alba and five of L. douglasii were investigated for relative growth rates, leaf area index, flowering time, seed and oil yield, seed size and shattering. Within each species the early flowering populations had the highest seed yield. Most accessions developed adequate leaf canopy by the time of onset of flowering.An ideotype for breeding goals could be defined in terms of the characters of L. douglasii var. nivea such as early flowering and high seed yield, provided taller plant stature and reduced seed shattering are incorporated.Domestication and breeding might involve a combination of induced mutation, interspecific hybridization and conventional breeding procedures.     

Genetics of New Crop Genus Limnanthes I. Five Morphological Marker Loci in L. alba × L. gracilis Progenies

New crop development often depends on a few essential traits such as nonshattering of seed at maturity and pollination control. In order to domesticate Limnanthes alba (meadowfoam), as a source of industrial oil, we performed genetic analysis of crosses between L. alba and its closest relative Limnanthes gracilis var. gracilis which shows higher selfing ability and nutlet abscission. Differences in pubescence, nutlet abscission, and seedling pigmentation were each found to be governed primarily by a single locus; two interacting loci appeared to control capsule dehiscence. Segregation distortion was detected for pigmentation in F₂ and F₃ populations, and for pubescence in several F₃ families. Loci controlling pubescence, nutlet abscission, and capsule dehiscence resided in a single linkage block which assorted independently of the locus controlling pigmentation.