Canola (Brassica rapa) is an oilseed crop that is related to broccoli (Brassica oleracea var Italica) and turnip (Brassica campestris var Rapifera). The name ‘canola’ actually stands for ‘Canadian oil, low acid’. Canola’s low erucic acid content differentiates it from rapeseed (Brassica napus) and is sometimes referred to as LEAR or ‘low erucic acid rapeseed.’ Canola seed contains about 40% oil...

Yellow-seed (i.e., yellow seed coat) is one of the most important agronomic traits of Brassica plants, which is correlated with seed oil and meal qualities. Previous studies on the Brassicaceae, including Arabidopsis and Brassica species, proposed that the seed-color trait is correlative to flavonoid and lignin biosynthesis, at the molecular level. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the oxidative polymer...

We examined the bioactivity of Yamato-mana (Brassica rapa L. Oleifera Group) constituent glucosinolates and found that 3-butenyl glucosinolate (gluconapin) decreased the plasma triglyceride gain induced by corn oil administration to mice. However, phenethyl glucosinolate (gluconasturtiin) had little effect. 2-Propenyl glucosinolate (sinigrin) also reduced the plasma triglyceride level, which su...

In this study, the effect of temperature (140, 160, 180 °C) and roasting time (5, 10, 15 min) on the bioactive compound content (canolol, tocopherol and plastochromanol-8) of cold-pressed oil from yellow-seeded rapeseed lines of different colors was investigated. Roasting increased the peroxide value in the seed oils compared to the oils from the control samples. However, roasting did not affec...

Enzymic activities and gene expression of oleoyl-CoA elongase were studied during seed development using two different rapeseed cultivars, high-erucic-acid rapeseed (HEAR) and low-erucic-acid rapeseed (LEAR). The overall elongase activities were maximal in HEAR between the fourth and eighth weeks after pollination (WAP) and absent in LEAR. The 3-ketoacyl-CoA synthase (condensing enzyme, CE) mRN...

The distribution of ethyl esters, triglycerides, diglycerides, monoglycerides and glycerol between the ester and glycerol phase was investigated after the ethanolysis of rapeseed oil at various reaction conditions. The determination of these substances in the ester and glycerol phases was carried out by the GC method. The amount of ethyl esters in the glycerol phase was unexpectedly high and th...