Selection for reduced linolenic acid content in Ethiopian mustard (Brassica carinata Braun)

Reducing linolenic acid content is one of the most important objectives for the development of Ethiopian mustard lines with high oil quality. This work was aimed at searching for variability of the fatty acid composition of oil within a germplasm collection of Ethiopian mustard. A total of 217 lines were analysed by gas-liquid chromatography (GLC) in 1991, and one was selected as having reduced values of both linolenic acid content (10.2% versus 14.0% of total fatty acids as the collection average) and linoleic acid desaturation ratio (LDR, 0.34 versus 0.45). After 3 years of pedigree selection for low linolenic acid content, this line showed, in 1995, average values of this fatty acid of 5.4% and 2.4% in two different environments, compared with 11.6% and 8.3%, respectively, in the control. The values of the LDR were 0.18 and 0.09, respectively, compared with 0.36 and 0.27 in the control line.