The crude oil percentage and fatty acid profile of turnip rape in continental climate conditions

Abstract

Türkiye is an importer of vegetable oil and oilseeds. The necessity of mixing biodiesel produced from domestic agricultural products and/or waste vegetable oils into diesel fuel further increases our need for vegetable oils and oilseeds. Therefore, it is important to determine the potential of alternative plant sources that cannot be used in food in terms of supplying raw materials for biodiesel. Brassica rapa ssp. oleifera is a species with high commercial potential used as industrial seed oil. This study was done in the fall sowing of 2020 in Ankara according to a randomized block design and was established with 4 replications. It was aimed to detect the crude oil percentage and fatty acid profiles of the Tekirdag, Bursa and Tokat origin lines of this species. In terms of study findings, significant differences were found among the lines with regards to the examined traits. Crude oil percentage was detected as 26.93-36.60% in B. rapa ssp. oleifera lines. It can be stated that local turnip rapeseed lines are rich in unsaturated fatty acids and crude oil percentage, especially in monounsaturated fatty acids such as oleic (16.24-18.65%) and erucic acid (35.66-42.97%), which are the most important factors affecting biodiesel quality, and this species has an important potential as a biodiesel raw material. According to the results obtained from this study, it was detected that Bursa origin Br2 line with Tekirdag origin Br3 and Br6 lines had higher crude oil percentage than other lines. Therefore, it is recommended that these lines be further evaluated for sustainable biodiesel production.