Estimation of Oil Yield of Perilla by Seed Characteristics and Crude Fat Content

Perilla (Perilla frutescens var.frutescens) is an annual plant of the Lamiaceae family, mainly grown for obtaining oil by press extraction after roasting the seeds. Oil yield is one of its important traits, but evaluating this yield is time-consuming, requires many seeds, and is hard to adjust to pedigrees in a breeding field. The objective of this study was to develop a method for selecting high-oil-yield lines in a breeding population without oil extraction. Twenty-three perilla cultivars were used for evaluating the oil yield and seed traits such as seed hardness, seed coat thickness, seed coat proportion and crude fat. After evaluation of the seed traits of 23 perilla cultivars, the ranges of oil yields, seed hardness, seed coat thickness, seed coat proportion, 100-seed weight, and crude fat were 24.68-38.75%, 157-1166 gf, 24-399 ㎛, 15.4-41.5%, 2.79-6.69 g, and 33.0-47.8%, respectively. In an analysis of correlation coefficients, the oil yield negatively correlated with seed length, seed width, the proportion of seed coat, seed hardness, and 1000-seed weight, but positively correlated with crude fat content. It was observed that as the seed coat proportion increased, the seed coat thickness, hardness, and 1000-seed weight also increased. Multiple linear regression (MLR) was employed to find major variables affecting the oil yield. Among the variables, traits crude fat content and seed coat proportion were assumed to be indirect parameters for estimating the potential oil yield, with respect to a significant positive correlation with the observed oil yield (R² = 0.791). Using these two parameters, an equation was derived to predict the oil yield. The results of this study show that various seed traits in 23 perilla cultivars positively or negatively correlated with the oil yield. In particular, crude fat and the seed coat proportion can be used for predicting the oil yield with the newly developed equation, and this approach will improve the efficiency of selecting prominent lines for the oil yield.