Potential, cultivation and quality of some crambe sp. in Southern Turkey

Abstract

Crambe sp. is an oilseed crop from the Brassicae family and native to the Mediterranean region. It can be converted into a number of industrial and energy uses. Crambe oil is used in introducing in stain, primers, plastic and solid wax, cosmetic and engine portions in the form of nylon-13.13 exclude carburetor as eco-friendly. All these properties make it interesting. This study is the first report on yield, cultivation procedure, and quality characteristics of Crambe sp. cultivated in Turkey. Native Crambe seeds, collected from eight different locations in Turkey, were cultivated under Çukurova conditions in Mediterranean region. Two Crambe species, Crambe orientalis and Crambe tataria, determined at the locations were studied, and some morphological characteristics and oil compositions were sown from cultivars and native forms. Fatty acid composition of seeds was examined with GC and GC/MS. In native populations, high seed oil contents were obtained from C. tataria (Ankara - Faculty of Science and Letters) and C. tataria (Kahramanmaraş-Elbistan), as 45.62 and 45.50%, respectively. The highest erucic acid content (49.0 %) was found in C. tataria (Ankara-Bilkent). In Çukurova conditions, despite cultivated all collected species, just C. orientalis was bloom among this species, and so that seed yield (472.77 kg/ha) oil rate (% 27.43) and erucic acid (41.0 %) could determine just this species.