BioMatNet Item: FAIR-CT98-4333 - DiCra: Diversification with Crambe: an industrial oil crop

FAIR-CT98-4333
DiCra: Diversification with Crambe: an industrial oil crop

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Bulk Chemicals : Crops for Bulk Chemicals : Crops for Fine Chemicals : FAIR Area 4.3 - Diversification : Fine Chemicals : Protein/Amino Acid : Vegetable Oil/Fat

	Type of Project	Shared Cost
	Contract No	FAIR-CT98-4333
	Total Cost	989,718 Euros
	EC Contribution	764,205 Euros
	Start Date	04/01/1999
	Duration	36 months

DiCra: Diversification with Crambe: an industrial oil crop

Objectives

Crambe is a newly introduced spring oil crop, suitable for diversification, which was first investigated in national and EU programmes (ECLAIR: AGRE-0046 and AIR: Concerted Action AIR3-CT94-2480). Seeds can be easily processed using conventional crushing and solvent extraction techniques, yielding oil and protein meal. The seed contains about 35% oil, which has a fatty acid composition of around 60 % erucic acid. This fatty acid is also found in High Erucic Acid Rape (HEAR) oil, although at lower concentration (ca. 45%). However, high and low erucic acid oil seed rape are cross fertile, and therefore the composition of seeds from neighbouring fields cannot be guaranteed. Thus the two rape genotypes cannot be cultivated in the same area. Crambe does not cross-pollinate with rape and thus it can be cultivated in the same areas (North and Atlantic Europe). Furthermore, due to its Mediterranean origin, Crambe is also well adapted to marginal land areas with mild winters and hot and dry summers. Cold tolerance would increase the locations where Crambe can be successfully cultivated and may enable it to be grown as an overwintering crop.

The use of erucic acid in lipochemistry is well established and an increasing market for this compound already exists. Recent experiments, carried out during the previous Concerted Action in cooperation with some private companies, showed that Crambe oil can effectively replace mineral oil in many mechanical industry processes such as metal working, lubrication, quenching, cutting, etc. The protein meal contains about 6% of glucosinolates (GLs), which during processing, are hydrolysed into antinutritional compounds that reduce the nutritional value of meal for animal feed.

During the Concerted Action, a detoxification method was identified. In the longer term, the best solution will be to lower the GLs content by breeding or by technology. The latter approach is being investigated ( FAIR1-CT95-0260 ), where GLs are isolated and used as biocidal compounds. Therefore, the outlets for Crambe are well established. In addition, it has already been demonstrated that Crambe can be cultivated across Europe from the Baltic Sea to southern Italy with seed yields that can reach 3t/ha. However, it has also be shown that yields are often much lower. Thus, it is clear that primary production is the weak link in the development of Crambe as an industrial crop.

Technical Approach

The DiCra programme will be focused on breeding and agrophysiology in order to improve the crop:

to provide high and stable yields
to grow the crop using environmental friendly techniques
to produce seeds and oil suitable for specific industrial uses

The programme will be divided into 3 tasks:

Task 1. Breeding: will identify and select genotypes with desirable agronomic characters (high oil content, cold tolerance, disease resistance, low GLs content) within the gene pool of C. abyssinica, C. hispanica and C. rilirormis. Several interspecific crosses have already been made. The dihaploid technique will also be used to create greater diversity. Variation will be also be determined in 200 Crambe lines obtained from gamma ray induced mutations. The improved and new genotypes will then be tested though an EU pedoclimatic network. This breeding work relies exclusively on classical techniques.

Task 2. Agrophysiology: will investigate the best environmental friendly techniques to grow Crambe paying particular attention to nitrogen and sulphur fertilisation as well as weed control. It will also address possibilities of improving seed germination that, currently, reduces the plant establishment.

Task 3. Quality control: will help to identify, using biochemical analysis (root carbohydrate content, amino acid, dehydrins and hormone content) traits related to cold tolerance. The same laboratory will make analyses (oil, fatty acids, GLs, proteins) of samples collected from trials of all partners.

Expected Results

The programme fits with the Community Agricultural Policy since it is dedicated to a new crop that will not generate food surpluses. It is hoped that the work will result in development of a renewable, environmentally benign, oil that can substitute for polluting petroleum oil products. This will contribute to the competitiveness of EU since, much of the industrial vegetable oils currently used in the EU market are produced in the US (including Crambe oil).

Crambe spp.

Contacts

Coordinator

Elise D TITTONEL / ENESAD - Etablissement National d'Enseignement Agronomique de Dijon / FRANCE

EC Scientific Officer

Adelmo MOREALE / European Commission DG VI Agriculture BELGIUM

Participant