Producing better sunflower oils in a changing environment

ECHARTE, M. M.; PEREYRA IRUJO, G.A.; COVI, M.; IZQUIERDO, N.G.; AGUIRREZÁBAL, L.A.N.

Advances in Fats and Oils Research

Research Signpost

Año: 2010;

Sunflower oil is one of the most widely-used vegetable oils because of its nutritional and industrial characteristics. Its quality is determined by the oil chemical composition which in turn, depends on sunflower variety and environmental conditions mainly during grain filling. Among these conditions, temperature has been shown to produce significant effects on oil quality. In this chapter oil quality response to environmental conditions during grain filling, focusing on temperature effects, is reviewed. Possible effects of Global Change in sunflower oil quality (oil fatty acids composition and antioxidants content) were simulated by using a crop model. We found that oil quality is expected to improve both for human consumption and biodiesel production under any of the locations and scenarios considered. These simulated results suggest that efforts should be directed towards the mitigation of the adverse effect of Global Change on crop yield.