New sunflower seeds with high contents of phytosterols | Nouvelles graines de tournesols à hauts taux de phytostérols
2014
Velasco Varo, Leonardo | Fernández de la Cuesta, Álvaro | Fernández Martínez, José María | Junta de Andalucía
Dietary phytosterols have a positive nutritional impact because they contribute to reduce cholesterol levels in blood. Accordingly, foods rich in phytosterols are required in a healthy diet. Vegetable oils are the richest source of phytosterols in the diet, though sunflower oil has lower phytosterol content than other seed oils such as rapeseed and corn. Increasing phytosterol content in sunflower oil requires optimizing first selection procedures. In this way, the development of accurate methods for analyzing phytosterol content in seeds instead of oils has opened up recently the way for large-scale screening for this trait. Large variability for seed phytosterol content has been identified in sunflower germplasm, from which we have developed a line, IASP-18, with about twofold seed phytosterol content than conventional sunflower. The trait is expressed across environments. Genetic studies are underway to characterize its inheritance and assess the feasibility of introgressing genes for high phytosterol content into elite sunflower germplasm.
Show more [+] Less [-]Authors’ research on seed phytosterols is being supported by research project AGR-1837 of Consejería de Economía, Innovación, Ciencia y Empleo, Junta de Andalucía
Show more [+] Less [-]Peer Reviewed
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