Morphological, productive and energetic characterization of Brassica carinata in Central, North and South areas of Italy

In recent years the cultivation of Brassica carinata has caught the interest of the research, even in countries characterized by unfavourable climatic conditions for its cultivation, thanks to its features, such as its higher vigor, productive potential and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses than rapeseed and the absence of dehiscence of the siliques. Recent evaluations in the Italian territory, however, have highlighted the lower productivity, especially with regard to oil yield, due to oil content in the seeds, which is 10% lower as compared to rapeseed. A further motivation to the spread of this crop might arise from the exploitation of secondary products (like flour and cake) useful in various application fields. In 2010-2011, under the Project EXTRAVALORE, agronomic evaluations were performed on four commercial varieties of B. carinata, in different areas of Italy: the North (Palazzolo, UD), Centre (Osimo, AN) and South Italy (Cassibile, SR). The environment significantly influenced the morpho-phenological traits and the production of the studied varieties. The best performances were obtained in Central Italy, where the B. carinata reached the highest grain yields. On average of the three environments the two varieties CT 180 and CT 204 have exceeded the production of 2 t ha-1 of grain, reaching the yield of 1 t ha-1 of oil only in the locality of Central Italy. The differences among genotypes for oil content suggests the necessity of breeding programs for the creation of varieties with higher oil content to fill the gap, due mainly to the relatively recent interest in this crop and the consequent lack of progress in genetic improvement obtained