b'CamelinaWhile castor bean has been the historic leading industrial oil crop, camelina is superior, according to Jack Grushcow, president and CEO of Linnaeus Plant Sciences in Vancouver, B.C., which has been breeding and growing camelina for almost 15 years. The crop is really starting to take off, he says, and seems to now have a life of its own. Indeed, he and his team have created a new company called Smart Earth Camelina focused on increasing acre-age and selling meal and oil. Linnaeuss breeding goals are to increase yield, disease resistance, seed size, oil quality and also to market a herbicide-tolerant variety. Camelina is an ancient crop, says Grushcow, but he says in a relatively short period of time weve been able to increase the oil quality fromAbove: 38% to over 42% and introduce downy mildew resistance.Saskatoon-based We have also been able to increase the seed size by overAAFC oilseeds breeder 40%. Increasing seed size in an oilseed is usually nega- Christina Eynck reports that tively correlated with oil yield, he explains, but Linnaeusshe and her team are working has found an outlier that has allowed for significantly- on increasing the genetic increased seed size without an decrease in oil production. diversity in camelina.Grushcow identifies one of the biggest challenges inPhoto courtesy Christina breeding camelina is finding new breeding material. HeEynckhas reached out to gene banks all over the world and calls the breeding tools he and his team now have at theirRight: Its the high erucic disposal fantastic. acid content of carinata oilSaskatoon-based AAFC oilseeds breeder Christinawhich looks similar to canola Eynck reports that she and her team are working on thatmakes it suitable for over increasing the genetic diversity in camelina through twoan astounding 1,000 potential or approaches. One is creating a diverse breeding popula- patented industrial applications.tion in collaboration with Linnaeus/Smart Earth Seeds and AAFCs Isobel Parkin, specifically a multi-parent advanced generation inter-cross (MAGIC) population, which will pos- Carinatasess completely new combinations of genetic elements.Its the high erucic acid content of carinata oil which In this population, which is also used for excitingmakes it suitable for over an astounding 1,000 potential genomic research, Eynck explains, we are hoping to seeor patented industrial applications. Biofuel made from agronomically superior camelina breeding lines and linescarinata oil has received certification from the Roundtable with interesting and beneficial traits that we would useon Sustainable Biomaterials and Eynck says it was used to for the introgression of these traits into varieties.power one of the first commercial airplane flights fueled AAFCs other approach in increasing genetic diversityby any biofuel.in camelina is to conduct crosses between camelina andIn terms of breeding goals, Eynck says one of the most its wild relatives, such as littlepod, to transfer traits suchimportant is early-maturing varieties. as disease resistance or create unique seed oil profiles.Current varieties are about 10 days later to mature Its challenging to breed camelina for higher oil pro- than canola, she notes. Herbicide tolerance and disease duction, says Eynck, as breeders are restricted to tradi- resistance (sclerotinia, alternaria and clubroot) are other tional pedigree breeding and mutation breeding.traits we are working on. We also develop germplasm Because no pollination control system has beenwith high erucic acid content (at least 55%, for industrial identified in camelina yet, we cannot develop hybridapplications) and low glucosinolate content (for feed varieties, she explains. We are also lacking an efficientapplications).doubled haploid protocol to develop non-segregating,Eynck notes that seed oil content has risen substan-homogenous lines quickly.tially since the carinata breeding program started at AAFC She adds the allohexaploid genome structure (threeover 25 years ago. Dr. Kevin Falk, my predecessor, made copies of most genes) of camelina makes traditional selec- great progress in increasing the oil content, she says. tion procedures more complicated, and there is also lowOur advanced breeding lines regularly show an oil con-genotypic and phenotypic diversity compared to othertent of over 40% and certain lines possess oil contents up Brassica crops. to 50% in certain years. JANUARY 2020 GERMINATION.CA 47'