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Ital. J. Agron., 6, 2, 119-126<br />

Effects of Water Regime on Fatty Acid Accumulation and Final Fatty Acid<br />

Composition in the Oil of Standard and High Oleic Sunflower Hybrids<br />

M. BALDINI, R. GIOVANARDI, S. TAHMASEBI-ENFERADI, and G.P. VANNOZZI †<br />

Dipartimento di Produzione Vegetale e Tecnologie Agrarie, Università di Udine, Udine, Italy<br />

Corresponding author: M. Baldini, Dipartimento di Produzione Vegetale e Tecnologie Agrarie, Università di<br />

Udine, via delle Scienze 208, 33100 Udine, Italy. Tel.: +39 0432 558663; Fax: +39 0432 558603; E-mail: baldini@dpvta.uniud.it<br />

Received: 4 June 2002. Accepted: 7 October 2002.<br />

ABSTRACT<br />

BACKGROUND. Little has been done to study the effects<br />

of agronomic factors on the fatty acid composition<br />

in sunflower oil and in particular, the effect of<br />

water availability is more or less unknown. This research<br />

studied the effect of water availability on fatty<br />

acid accumulation and final fatty acid composition<br />

in the oil in high oleic and standard sunflower hybrids.<br />

METHODS. Lysimeter trials were carried out during<br />

1997 and 1998 to study the effects of different water<br />

regimes on fatty acid composition and accumulation<br />

in high oleic and standard sunflower hybrids. The water<br />

regimes adopted were: water table, replacement<br />

of the evapotranspiration (ET) and water stress. Two<br />

hybrids were cultivated: UD12, with a high oleic content<br />

and UD87 as standard, both obtained by the Crop<br />

Production Department of Udine University. A randomised<br />

block design was used with four and two replications,<br />

in the first and second year, respectively, and<br />

the main yield characteristics were evaluated at maturity.<br />

Achene samples were collected, every 6 days, from<br />

last anthesis until maturity in order to study achene dry<br />

weight, oil and fatty acids accumulation.<br />

RESULTS. In the standard and high oleic hybrids the<br />

fatty acid composition stabilised between the 17th and<br />

23rd day after the end of flowering and in the standard<br />

hybrid the ratio between oleic and linoleic fatty<br />

acids reached a value very close to one. Water<br />

stress significantly increased oleic acid content (of approx.<br />

5%) with respect to the other water regimes in<br />

the high oleic hybrids during both years, reducing the<br />

dry matter and oil accumulation phases, with all the<br />

enzyme activities in<strong>vol</strong>ved, including ∆-12 desaturase,<br />

which is responsible for the desaturation from oleic<br />

to linoleic acid.<br />

CONCLUSION. Water stress, causing accelerated and<br />

earlier embryo development and lipid accumulation<br />

therefore determines a shorter duration of all enzy-<br />

matic activities, including those of ∆-12 desaturase<br />

and this could reflect on the final acid composition.<br />

This hypothesis could also explain some inconsistent<br />

qualitative results of the high oleic hybrids obtained<br />

in different years and environments.<br />

INTRODUCTION<br />

The nutritional quality of sunflower oil is due<br />

to the high percentage of C:18 fatty acids, in particular<br />

linoleic (18:2) and oleic acid (18:1), which<br />

together represent about 90% of the fatty acid<br />

total, with the remainder being made up of<br />

palmitic (C16:0) and stearic acid (C18:0). From<br />

1977 onwards, after the FAO published results<br />

on the possible negative effects of some fats and<br />

oils on human health, interest in polyunsaturated<br />

fatty acids of plant origin grew and there<br />

have been many studies done to determine the<br />

effect on health of the different fatty acids in<br />

the diet. In general a diet rich in vegetable oils<br />

prevents heart disease (Krajcovicova- Kudlakova<br />

et al., 1997). In particular, a diet rich in<br />

mono-unsaturated fatty acids reduces the cholesterol<br />

level associated with low-density<br />

lipoproteins (“harmful cholesterol”) and has no<br />

effect on the level of the triglycerides or on the<br />

cholesterol associated with high density lipoprotein,<br />

if compared to a diet rich in saturated fatty<br />

acids (Grundy, 1986). Other more recent<br />

studies have reached the same conclusion: a diet<br />

intended to prevent cardiovascular disease<br />

must include a reduction in saturated fatty acids<br />

intake (Jing et al., 1997) and these should not<br />

provide more than 30% of the energy supplied<br />

by fats (Woo et al., 1997).<br />

† The work can be attributed in equal parts to the authors M. Baldini, R. Giovanardi and G.P. Vannozzi. S. Tahmasebi-<br />

Enfradi was responsible for the section on chemical analyses.


120 Baldini et al.<br />

Recent studies have verified the antioxidant<br />

properties of oleic acid (Berry and Rivlin, 1997)<br />

and have demonstrated that an increase in the<br />

oleic acid content in the tissues, in situations of<br />

high oxygen stress (oxygen toxicity), can contribute<br />

towards forming better cellular protection<br />

than a similar increase in polyunsaturated<br />

fatty acids (Kinter et al., 1996). Other studies<br />

done on the Chinese population in Hawaii have<br />

highlighted an inverse relationship between the<br />

consumption of monounsaturated fatty acids<br />

and cancer of the colon (Po Huang et al., 1996).<br />

For some years research has been underway<br />

with the aim of obtaining new high oleic varieties<br />

of sunflower, which has thoroughly tackled<br />

the problems related to the genetic control<br />

of high oleic acid content (Miller et al., 1987;<br />

Alonso, 1988; Fernandez-Martinez et al., 1989),<br />

lipid biosynthesis in both standard genotypes<br />

and those with a high oleic acid content in the<br />

achenes (Ohlrogge et al., 1991; Ohlrogge and<br />

Browse, 1995) and the effect of the main environmental<br />

factors (temperature in particular)<br />

that can modify the linoleic/oleic acid ratio in<br />

the oils (Harris et al., 1978; Goyne et al., 1979)<br />

due to the well-known affect on enzyme activity<br />

(oleoyl phosphatidylcholine desaturase or<br />

∆ -12 desaturase) that converts oleic acid into<br />

linoleic acid (Garces et al., Garces and Mancha,<br />

1989, 1001). Little has been done to study the<br />

effects of other agronomic factors on the fatty<br />

acid composition. In particular, the effect of water<br />

availability is more or less unknown, except<br />

for the study by Talha and Osman (1975) carried<br />

out before the existence of high oleic hybrids.<br />

This research studied the effect of water availability<br />

on fatty acid accumulation and final fatty<br />

acid composition in the oil in high oleic and<br />

standard hybrids.<br />

MATERIALS AND METHODS<br />

Two trials were done in 1997 and 1998 at the<br />

Experimental Farm of Udine University (46° 02’<br />

N, 13° 13’ E and 110 m a.s.l.), using two different<br />

lysimeter systems. In 1997 12 underground<br />

lysimeters were used (length 1.1 m, width 0.8 m<br />

and depth 0.70 m). The lysimeters were filled<br />

with loam soil (20, 42 and 38% of clay, silt and<br />

sand, respectively) (0.5 m layer) and with sand,<br />

gravel and fine pebbles (0.2 m layer) for<br />

drainage and were protected from the rain by<br />

a transparent fixed canopy. In 1998 larger<br />

lysimeters were used (1.5 × 1.5 × 1.5 m), containing<br />

the same soil and protected from the<br />

rain by a mobile canopy on rails (12 lysimeters<br />

of which 2 were weighing, 4 with automatic regulation<br />

of water table depth and 6 drainage<br />

ones). The main climatic characteristics, divided<br />

into the pre- and post-flowering stages of the<br />

crop, were recorded at an automatic weather<br />

station close to the experiment (Table 1). As regards<br />

the water regimes reported in Table 2, it<br />

should be specified that the water table, where<br />

in<strong>vol</strong>ved, was maintained through hypogeal water<br />

refills at a constant depth of 0.5 m in the<br />

first year and 0.6 m in the second; that 60% and<br />

100% ET represent the percentages of restoration<br />

of evapotranspiration (ETM) by means of<br />

hypogeal irrigation, in the first and second year,<br />

respectively, and that stress means no water<br />

restoration from flowering to physiological maturity.<br />

The field capacity (-0.02 MPa) and wilting point<br />

(-1.5 MPa) of the soil were measured in the laboratory<br />

as being 30 and 15% of soil <strong>vol</strong>ume, respectively.<br />

The soil water content in each lysimeter<br />

was measured every 3 days by TDR (Tektronics<br />

1502C) using probes inserted at 20 and<br />

40 cm depths and by oven-drying soil samples<br />

from the same depths every 15 days. The infor-<br />

Table 1. Weather conditions during the experiments. Average values of minimum temperature (Min T), maximum temperature<br />

(Max T), relative humidity (RU), solar radiation (Radiation) and rainfall (Rainfall) during sowing – end of flowering<br />

and end of flowering – physiological maturity periods.<br />

* Rainfall has not affected the trials<br />

Year Period Min T Max T RU Radiation Rainfall<br />

(°C) (°C) (%) (MJ m -2 day -1 ) (mm) *<br />

1997 Sowing (04/04) – end flowering (06/07) 11.1 20.7 64.6 19.4 469<br />

End flowering – physiol. maturity (06/08) 15.1 26.2 70.8 22.0 105<br />

1998 Sowing (06/05)- end flowering (28/07) 12.4 25.3 68.6 21.7 265<br />

End flowering – physiol. maturity (30/8) 17.3 29.3 65.2 21.1 91


mation obtained from the TDR probes, placed<br />

on all the lysimeters, was integrated with the<br />

values obtained from the two weighing lysimeters<br />

to identify when to irrigate.<br />

Two sunflower hybrids were used, one with a<br />

high oleic content (UD12) and the other a standard<br />

one (UD87), both characterised by the<br />

same crop cycle and selected by the Crop Production<br />

Department at the University of Udine<br />

(in the first year only the high oleic hybrid was<br />

used). Sowing was done on 04/04/1997 and<br />

02/04/1998; after thinning 6 plants m -2 remained<br />

(6 plants per lysimeter in 1997 and 15 per<br />

lysimeter in 1998). Base fertilisation was done<br />

with 150 kg of P 2 O 5 and 200 kg of K 2 O. At the<br />

B6 stage (Merrien, 1986), a side dressing was<br />

done with approx. 120 kg of N in the form of<br />

ammonium nitrate. Two treatments against<br />

aphids were required in the first year. During<br />

both years weeds were hand removed when necessary.<br />

At flowering all the heads of the high<br />

oleic hybrid were protected with nylon mesh to<br />

avoid cross pollination by insects, but that allowed<br />

the passage of air and water so as to avoid<br />

forming a specific microclimate around the head<br />

that would interfere with the biochemical and<br />

physiological activity of the forming achenes. The<br />

high self-compatibility of the genotype allowed<br />

full fertilisation of the flowers.<br />

The experimental layout was a randomised<br />

block design, with 1 genotype (UD12), 3 irrigation<br />

treatments (restoration of 60% of ETM, 50<br />

cm deep water table and stress) and 4 replicates<br />

in the first year and 2 genotypes (UD12 and<br />

UD87), 3 irrigation treatments (restoration of<br />

Fatty Acids in Sunflower Hybrids 121<br />

Table 2. Treatments adopted and analysed characters on sunflower hybrids at harvest time.<br />

Means with same letters are not significantly different P ≤ 0.05 (Duncan test).<br />

(1) 60 and 100% ET= restoration of 60 and 100% of ETM; Table 0.5 and 0.6 m= water table depth; Stress= no water<br />

restoration from flowering to physiological maturity.<br />

Year Hybrids Water regime (1) Achene yield Single achene Achenes per Oil content<br />

(g m -2 ) weight (mg) plant (n°) (% s.s.)<br />

1997 High oleic 60% ET 328 b 42.3 ac 1033 b 45.5 ab<br />

“ “ Table 0.5 m 512 a 45.2 ac 1510 a 43.5 ab<br />

“ “ Stress 144 c 25.8 bc 2743 c 42.2 ab<br />

1998 High oleic 100% ET 513 a 48.3 ac 1326 b 40.9 bb<br />

“ “ Table 0.6 m 540 a 46.5 ac 1453 a 47.2 ab<br />

“ “ Stress 304 c 40.6 bc 2936 c 43.5 ab<br />

“ Standard 100% ET 493 ab 43.5 ab 1416 a 39.4 bb<br />

“ “ Table 0.6 m 432 b 44.6 ab 1210 b 45.9 ab<br />

“ “ Stress 235 d 39.9 bc 2737 d 42.8 ab<br />

100% of ETM, 60 cm deep water table and<br />

stress) and 4 replicates, in the second.<br />

At harvest, the achenes, after oven drying (72<br />

hours at 50 °C), were used for the following determinations:<br />

− achene production per unit surface area (g m -2 );<br />

− achene unit weight (mg);<br />

− filled achenes per plant (n);<br />

− oil content in the achenes (% of dry weight),<br />

using the NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance)<br />

method.<br />

Six samples of 10 achenes were taken from each<br />

treatment starting at 5 days from the end of<br />

flowering, stage F4 (Merrien, 1986), until maturity,<br />

stage M3 (Merrien, 1986). The samples were<br />

taken from four plants (one plant per lysimeter<br />

in the first year and two plants in the second,<br />

respectively), always from the external zone of<br />

the head. The achenes were immediately ovendried<br />

(72 hours at 60 °C) and stored in a cold<br />

room (4 °C) until the end of the trial.<br />

On each of these samples the following determinations<br />

were made:<br />

− whole achene unit weight (in the second<br />

year) (mg);<br />

− oil content (% of dry weight), following the<br />

method used by Champolivier and Merrien<br />

(1996) (in the second year), by hexane extraction;<br />

− percentage content of the major fatty acids<br />

in the oil: stearic acid (C16:0), palmitic acid<br />

(C18:0), oleic acid (C18:1) and linoleic acid<br />

(C18:2), using the esterification and gas-chromatography<br />

methodology described by Fernandez<br />

et al. (1999).


122 Baldini et al.<br />

Analysis of variance was done on the data, and<br />

when the F test proved significant, Duncan’s<br />

test at P ≤ 0.05 was used to separate the mean<br />

values of the treatments. For the data from the<br />

samples taken during the crop cycle the sources<br />

of variation were water regime and sampling<br />

date in the first year, and water regime, hybrid<br />

and sampling date in the second.<br />

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION<br />

Figure 1 shows achene dry matter accumulation<br />

during maturation. As the statistical analysis<br />

demonstrated that the hybrid effect was not significant,<br />

the values reported are the means of<br />

the two hybrids. It should be pointed out that<br />

at the first sampling (two days after the end of<br />

flowering), the embryo begins to form and<br />

therefore all the values relating to that date refer<br />

principally to the tissues of the seed coat,<br />

which forms and develops independently of fertilisation.<br />

The most significant increase in dry<br />

weight took place between 8 and 14 days after<br />

flowering, while between 20 and 28 days dry<br />

matter accumulation in the achene is more or<br />

less completed. Between treatments, water<br />

stress determined the formation of lighter achenes<br />

at maturity compared to the other treatments,<br />

with a higher growth rate in the earliest<br />

stages (8 days after fertilisation), thus confirming<br />

the findings of Hall et al. (1985). Figure 2<br />

shows a strong increase in oil accumulation in<br />

the achene (the values are the mean of the two<br />

hybrids), between the 8th and 14th days after fertilisation,<br />

in correspondence to the significant<br />

Figure 1. 1998. Time course of dry matter accumulation in<br />

achenes of plants submitted to water table (), ET () and<br />

stress () water regimes. The values reported refer to the<br />

mean of the two cv. The vertical bars represent the standard<br />

error of the mean.<br />

Figure 2. 1998. Time course of oil accumulation in achenes<br />

of plants submitted to water table (), ET () and stress<br />

() water regimes. The values reported refer to the mean<br />

of the two cv. The vertical bars represent the standard error<br />

of the mean.<br />

increase in dry matter in the achene (Figure 1).<br />

Among water regimes, the supply from the water<br />

table determined, at maturity, significantly<br />

higher percentages of oil in the achene than in<br />

the other irrigation regimes. However, all treatments<br />

reached the maximum oil content on the<br />

20 th day after the end of flowering, confirming<br />

what Champolivier and Merrien (1996) found<br />

in a trial conducted in a phytotron at the highest<br />

temperatures (27 °C day and 22 °C night),<br />

which are roughly equivalent to those at the trial<br />

site during post-flowering (Table 1).<br />

Figures 3 and 4 give the accumulation of the<br />

major fatty acids in the oil of the high oleic and<br />

standard hybrids for both years.<br />

In the first year of the trial the saturated fatty<br />

acids content (palmitic and stearic) in the high<br />

oleic hybrid diminished rapidly in the days following<br />

the end of flowering, to then stabilise between<br />

the 17 th and 23 rd day at approx. 2.5 and<br />

4%, respectively (Figure 3). The oleic acid content<br />

at the first sampling (74%) was significantly<br />

lower than that found at full-ripening (85%),<br />

while linoleic acid, on the contrary, had a value<br />

of 10% at the first sampling against 5% at maturity.<br />

Both these fatty acids stabilised between<br />

the 17 th and 23 rd day after the end of flowering<br />

(Figure 3).<br />

In the second year the palmitic acid trend<br />

seemed analogous in the two hybrids, with a<br />

slightly higher final amount in the standard hybrid<br />

(5.5%) than in the high oleic one (3%).<br />

This fatty acid reduced, compared to the initial


values, by circa 50% in the standard hybrid and<br />

33% in the high oleic one (Figure 4) between<br />

the 8 th and 14 th day after fertilisation.<br />

The stearic acid content, which follows the<br />

palmitic acid formation in the biosynthetic chain<br />

by the addition of two carbon atoms, was practically<br />

identical at maturity in the two hybrids<br />

(4.1 and 4.3% in the high oleic and standard hybrid,<br />

respectively). This fatty acid showed a significant<br />

increase from the 2 nd to 8 th day after fertilisation,<br />

due to the fact that the embryo has<br />

already begun to develop and also differentiates<br />

in the fatty acid composition from that of the<br />

tissues in the seed-coat, typical of the polar<br />

lipids and suitable for the membrane activities.<br />

From the 8 th day, with the biosynthesis increase<br />

in the oil, the ∆-9 desaturase enzyme is activated,<br />

which causes the formation of oleic acid<br />

(C18:1) through desaturation of stearic acid<br />

(C18:0). This was clearly seen in the standard<br />

hybrid where, besides a higher increase in oleic<br />

acid, there was a contemporary reduction in<br />

the linoleic acid content (Figure 4). Starting<br />

from the 14 th day, the action of the ∆-12 desat-<br />

Fatty Acids in Sunflower Hybrids 123<br />

Figure 3. 1997. Time course of fatty acids accumulation in a high oleic hybrid. The vertical bars represent the standard error<br />

of the mean.<br />

urase enzyme became evident, shown by an increase<br />

in linoleic acid (C18:2) and respective reduction<br />

of oleic acid (Figure 4). In the standard<br />

hybrid the ratio between these two fatty acids<br />

stabilised at around the 28 th day after the end<br />

of flowering, on a value very close to one (44.2<br />

and 45.3%, respectively) (Figure 4). The oleic acid<br />

percentage in the standard hybrid was in agreement<br />

with values obtained in the same environment<br />

in previous studies (Fernandez et al., 1999)<br />

and in experiments done in controlled environments<br />

with similar temperatures (Champolivier<br />

and Merrien, 1996). This could be attributed to a<br />

partial inhibition of ∆-12 desaturase activity<br />

caused by high temperatures, as found by Garces<br />

and Mancha (1991), who demonstrated an increase<br />

in desaturase activity between 10 °C and<br />

20 °C and a fast reduction as the temperature rose<br />

above this (activity reduced to one third at 30 °C<br />

and almost nil at 35 °C).<br />

In both hybrids the oleic and linoleic acid values<br />

at the first sampling were more similar than<br />

the final values (Figure 4), as reported by other<br />

authors (Garces and Mancha, 1989). This


124 Baldini et al.<br />

Figure 4. 1998. Time course of fatty acids accumulation in the two sunflower cv, high oleic () and standard (). The value<br />

reported refers to the mean of the treatments. The vertical bars represent the standard error of the mean.<br />

could be attributed to two causes: the first is<br />

that in both sunflower hybrids, oleic acid is the<br />

major constituent of the tissues in the pericarp<br />

(Garces et al., 1989), as shown in Figure 4, and<br />

the second is that in the high oleic mutants, the<br />

∆-12 desaturase enzyme inhibition due to a different<br />

arrangement of the nucleotide sequences<br />

linked to the OL locus in the transcription of<br />

the responsible gene (Hongtrakul et al., 1998)<br />

is not immediate and instant. In fact, the constant<br />

and definitive levels for these fatty acids<br />

are reached between the 14 th and 20 th day after<br />

fertilisation (Figure 4).<br />

The differences in fatty acid composition in the<br />

high oleic hybrid between the two years, especially<br />

in the early seed development stages, can<br />

be attributed to the fact that the sampling times<br />

do not coincide and that the treatments also differ<br />

in the methods used.<br />

In the first year of the trial, better yield results<br />

were achieved with the shallow water table than<br />

with water stress or 60% restoration of the<br />

ETM, with both a higher achene unit weight and<br />

more filled achenes per plant (Table 2).<br />

In the second year the shallow water table and<br />

complete restoration of ETM gave the best<br />

yield results for both hybrids, even if the standard<br />

hybrid had a lower yield potential than the<br />

high oleic one in the water table and water<br />

stress treatments. It is interesting that the two<br />

most favourable water regimes, water table<br />

Figure 5. 1997-1998. Effect of water regimes on oleic acid<br />

(❒) and linoleic acid () content in the achenes at harvest<br />

time.


presence and complete ETM restoration led to<br />

the highest and the lowest oil content in the<br />

seeds, respectively, while water stress gave an intermediate<br />

result (Table 2).<br />

At harvest, the saturated fatty acid content<br />

(palmitic and stearic) did not vary in relation to<br />

water regime. However, in both years there was<br />

a positive and significant effect of water stress<br />

on the oleic acid content in the high oleic hybrid<br />

(increase of about 5%) (Figure 5). Instead,<br />

in the second year water stress determined a significant<br />

reduction of approx. 15% in oleic acid<br />

content compared to full irrigation restoration<br />

(100% ET) in the standard hybrid (Figure 5).<br />

CONCLUSIONS<br />

Different soil water availability during the flowering-maturity<br />

stage appeared to significantly<br />

influence the oleic acid content at harvest in<br />

both genotypes, standard and high oleic. In particular,<br />

in both years of the trial, water stress<br />

determined an increase in the oleic acid content<br />

in the high oleic hybrid compare to the other<br />

treatments. In the standard sunflower the ∆-12<br />

desaturase activity lasted longer, being almost<br />

identical to the end of flowering-maturity<br />

stages and can therefore be influenced by different<br />

or varying temperature conditions, towards<br />

which it is extremely sensitive. It is another<br />

matter in the high oleic sunflower where<br />

the same enzyme only shows some activity in<br />

the earliest stages of embryo development (until<br />

approx. 12 days after the end of flowering)<br />

associated with active lipid synthesis, to then<br />

lower abruptly towards negligible values<br />

(Garces and Mancha, 1991; Ohrlogge et al.,<br />

1991). Water stress, causing accelerated and<br />

earlier embryo development and lipid accumulation<br />

(Figures 1 and 2) therefore determines<br />

a shorter duration of all enzymatic activities,<br />

including those of ∆-12 desaturase and<br />

this could reflect on the final acid composition.<br />

This hypothesis, which could also be extended<br />

to any type of environmental stress (e.g. temperature)<br />

that can affect the period of accumulation<br />

and that requires to be confirmed by<br />

further experiments, could also explain some<br />

inconsistent qualitative results of the high oleic<br />

hybrids obtained in different years and environments<br />

(Monotti et al., 1992; Del Pino et al.,<br />

1996; Salera and Baldini, 1998), when significant<br />

genetic factors have not intervened.<br />

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS<br />

Research carried out with financing from CNR<br />

(Italian Research Council), as part of the Coordinated<br />

Project GRU.S.I, and from the<br />

Province of Udine.<br />

The authors would like to thank Fabio Zuliani<br />

and Romina Carpi for their valuable collaboration<br />

in the technical management of the trials.<br />

REFERENCES<br />

Fatty Acids in Sunflower Hybrids 125<br />

Alonso L.C., 1988. Estudio genetico del caracter alto oleico<br />

en el girasol (Helianthus annuus L.) y su comportamiento<br />

a distintas temperaturas. Proc. 12th Int. Sunf.<br />

Conf., Novi Sad, <strong>vol</strong>.II, 454-462.<br />

Berry E.M., Rivlin R.S., 1997. Dietary fatty acids in the<br />

management of diabetes mellitus. Am. J. Clin. Nutr., 66,<br />

4, 991-997.<br />

Champolivier L., Merrien A., 1996. The effects of temperature<br />

differences during seed ripening on oil content<br />

and its fatty acid composition in two sunflower varieties<br />

(oleic and not). OCL, 3, 2, 140-145.<br />

Del Pino A.M., Monotti M., Pirani V., Salera E., Bianchi<br />

A.A., Bressan M., Capitanio R., Conti D., Cardone A.M.,<br />

Pino S., Talluri P., Tanzi F., 1996. Varietà di girasole “alto<br />

oleico” saggiate in diversi ambienti dell’Itali centrale<br />

e settentrionale. Informatore Agrario, 52, 6, 55-64.<br />

Fernandez H., Baldini M., Olivieri A.M., 1999. Inheritance<br />

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EFFETTO DEL REGIME IDRICO DEL TERRENO SULL’ACCUMULO DI ACIDI GRASSI<br />

E SULLA COMPOSIZIONE ACIDICA FINALE DELL’OLIO OTTENUTO DA IBRIDI DI<br />

GIRASOLE A BASSO E ALTO CONTENUTO DI ACIDO OLEICO<br />

SCOPO. Molto limitati sono gli studi effettuati per studiare l’importanza dei fattori egronomici sulla composizione<br />

acidica dell’olio nel girasole e tra questi, l’effetto della disponibilità idrica risulta quasi sconosciuto.<br />

METODO. Durante il 1997 e 1998, sono state effettuate due prove, in lisimetri protetti dalla pioggia da tettoie fisse<br />

e mobili. Tra gli obiettivi considerati, note<strong>vol</strong>e importanza è stata attribuita alla valutazione dell’influenza della disponibilità<br />

idrica sulla composizione acidica finale dell’olio in ibridi normali ed ad alto oleico e sulla cinetica di<br />

accumulo dei principali acidi grassi. I regimi idrici adottati sono stati: alimentazione idrica da falda freatica; reintegro<br />

dell’evotraspirazione (ET) e stress idrico. I due ibridi sperimentali utilizzati sono stati UD12, ad alto oleico<br />

e UD87 normale, entrambi ottenuti dall’Università di Udine. Sono stati controllati i consumi idrici della coltura e<br />

lo stato idrico del terreno; sono stati analizzati l’accumulo di sostanza secca, di olio, e la composizione acidica degli<br />

acheni; a maturazione sono stati analizzati i principali caratteri produttivi.<br />

RISULTATI. La definitiva composizione acidica, in entrambi gli ibridi, viene raggiunta tra i 17 e 23 giorni dopo fine<br />

fioritura ed il rapporto tra oleico e linoleico, nell’ibrido “normale”, si è stabilizzato su un valore molto prossimo<br />

all’unità (44,2 e 45,3%, rispettivamente). In entrambi gli anni, nell’ibrido ad alto oleico, si è osservato un effetto significativo<br />

e positivo dello stress idrico sul contenuto di acido oleico nel seme alla raccolta rispetto agli altri trattamenti<br />

(aumento di circa il 5%). Lo stress idrico, ha provocato una accelerazione ed un anticipo nello sviluppo<br />

dell’embrione e nell’accumulo dei lipidi.<br />

CONCLUSIONE. Lo stress idrico, determinando una riduzione nel tempo di tutte le attività enzimatiche, compresa<br />

quella della ∆-12 desaturasi, responsabile della trasformazione da oleico a linoleico, può aver interferito direttamente<br />

nella composizione acidica finale. Tale ipotesi, che potrebbe anche essere allargata a qualsiasi tipo di stress<br />

ambientale (temperatura) capace di influenzare il periodo di accumulo, potrebbe anche spiegare alcuni incostanti<br />

risultati qualitativi di ibridi ad alto oleico ottenuti in diversi anni ed ambienti.<br />

Key-words: sunflower, water regimes, fatty acid composition, high oleic, ∆-12 desaturase.

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