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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Sunflower and Plant Biology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #121165
Title: BREEDING NUSUN HYBRIDS WITH LOW SATURATED FATTY ACIDS

Author
item Miller, Jerry
item Vick, Brady

Submitted to: Proceedings Sunflower Research Workshop
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/1/2001
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The National Sunflower Association has encouraged the industry to lower the saturated fatty acid level of sunflower oil. The main reason for lowering the saturated level is that American consumers have become more aware of foods with high levels of fat, particularly high levels of saturated fat. Future labeling requirements on all food products will further emphasize the saturated level content, particularly the trans fat content. As NuSun sunflower oil becomes more popular, research has been implemented to lower the palmitic and stearic acid levels in sunflower oil, and incorporate these levels into NuSun lines and hybrids. This research reports the incorporation of three genetic factors responsible for low palmitic and low stearic acid content into NuSun lines and a hybrid. A NuSun hybrid was produced with 56.2% oleic acid content. The palmitic and stearic content total of this hybrid was 7.4%, which was 1.5% lower in saturated acid content when compared with NuSun check hybrids and almost 4% lower in saturated acid content when compared with traditional sunflower oil hybrids. Therefore, an experimental NuSun hybrid was produced that achieved the less than or equal to 9% total saturated fatty acid content encouraged by industry.

Technical Abstract: Reducing the saturated fatty acid level in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) oil would be advantageous for the sunflower industry, particularly in the NuSun type of oil. The objectives of this investigation were to determine whether combining the three alleles responsible for low palmitic and low stearic acid content could reduce the total saturated fatty acid content of sunflower oil, and to transfer these genes into parental lines to produce a NuSun hybrid with lower total saturated acid content. A NuSun hybrid was produced with 56.2% oleic acid content. The palmitic and stearic content total of this hybrid was 7.4%, which was 1.5% lower in saturated acid content when compared with NuSun check hybrids and almost 4% lower in saturated acid content when compared with traditional sunflower oil hybrids. Therefore, an experimental NuSun hybrid was produced that achieved the less than or equal to 9% total saturated fatty acid content encouraged by industry. Future research on this project will be initiated to determine if saturated fatty acid could be further reduced if the NuSun hybrid averaged 65 to 68% oleic acid.