Evaluation of Camelina Sativa as an Alternative Oilseed Crop

Abstract

The increasing awareness of the value of oils with a low content of saturated fat and a high proportion of OMEGA-3 to OMEGA-6 type fatty acids has focused attention on finding commercial sources of such oils. Camelina has been identified as a useful plant source. Camelina (Camelina sativa), a member of the mustard family, is an oilseed plant with both summer annual and winter hardy biennial forms. A series of field trials were conducted over a three-year period, as part of an EUsponsored research programme across four countries. The objective was to establish the potential of winter hardy varieties of camelina, grown without the use of herbicides, fungicides or pesticides, as a commercial source of a high quality oil for human consumption. The study has shown that winter camelina cannot produce an economic yield in Ireland where the use of herbicides and fungicides are excluded. The relatively mild wet winters encountered in Ireland result in very high levels of weed competition. The resultant dense, wet canopy encourages high levels of disease infection and creates conditions where excessive lodging occurs early in the season. The result is difficult harvesting conditions and low yields. The herbicide Trifluralin (Treflan) incorporated into the seedbed before sowing was identified as an effective herbicide for camelina. However, the full potential of the winter crop, using herbicides and an effective disease control programme, remains to be established.