The ability to manipulate plant fatty acid biosynthesis by using new biotechnological approaches has allowed the production of transgenic plants with unusual fatty acid profile and increased oil content. This review focuses on the production of very long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (VLCPUFAs) and the increase in oil content in plants using molecular biology tools. Evidences suggest that r...

Moringa oleifera seeds are a promising resource for food and non-food applications, due to their content of monounsaturated fatty acids with a high monounsaturated/saturated fatty acids (MUFA/SFA) ratio, sterols and tocopherols, as well as proteins rich in sulfated amino acids. The rapid growth of Moringa trees in subtropical and tropical areas, even under conditions of prolonged drought, makes...

Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) is one of the most important oil crops almost all over the world. Seed-related traits, including oil content (OC), silique length (SL), seeds per silique (SS), and seed weight (SW), are primary targets for oil yield improvement. To dissect the genetic basis of these traits, 192 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) were derived from two parents with distinct oil content a...

For humans a daily intake of up to 500 mg omega-3 (n-3) long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) is recommended, amounting to an annual requirement of 1.25 million metric tonnes (mt) for a population of 7 billion people. The annual global supply of n-3 LC-PUFA cannot meet this level of requirement and so there is a large gap between supply and demand. The dietary source of n-3 LC-PUFA, ...

The seed oils of domesticated oilseed crops are major agricultural commodities that are used primarily for nutritional applications, but in recent years there has been increasing use of these oils for production of biofuels and chemical feedstocks. This is being driven in part by the rapidly rising costs of petroleum, increased concern about the environmental impact of using fossil oil, and the...

The potential of three arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) - Glomus mosseae, G. fasciculatum and G. intraradices- to enhance the production of essential oil and plant growth parameter was investigated in sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum). The AMF inoculation significantly increased plant height, fresh and dry matter yield, oil content and oil yield as compared to non-inoculated basil plants. Essent...

The article provides an overview of information on the two invasive species of Siberia that are weeds of crops Malva verticillata L. and Vicia hirsuta (L.) S.F. Gray. It provides information on the distribution of species, morphology, biological and ecological characteristics. Active ability of Vicia hirsuta to spread with the seed of oil plants and honey plants was revealed. The possible conse...

The soybean economy experienced balanced sumption, such as modified-protein corn and cereal growth in both total demand and total supply since crops, and synthetic amino acids and urea supplethe early 1940's, but in recent years encountered ments, suggest possible long-range problems in the excess production. Since the soybean economy is utilization area. Production increases in' crops that eff...

Research and development efforts for biofuel production are targeted at converting plant biomass into renewable liquid fuels. Major obstacles for biofuel production include lack of biofuel crop domestication, low oil yields from crop plants as well as recalcitrance of lignocellulose to chemical and enzymatic breakdown. Researchers are expanding the genetic and genomic resources available for cr...

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an annual legume which is also known as peanut, earthnut, monkeynut and ground bean. Among the major oil seed crops, groundnut has some specific advantages because of its use in many food products. The present study is planned to characterize different groundnut varieties, grown under similar conditions, for their chemical composition and nutritional assay. Fa...