OBJECTIVE Pumpkin seed oil is rich in phytoestrogens and animal studies suggest that there is some benefit to supplementation in low estrogen conditions. This study is the first to evaluate the benefit of pumpkin seed oil in postmenopausal women. METHODS This pilot study was randomized, double-blinded and placebo-controlled. Study participants included 35 women who had undergone natural menop...

Near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) of intact seeds allows the non-destructive estimation of seed quality parameters which is highly desirable in plant breeding. Together with yield, oil content and quality, a main aim in safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) breeding is the selection of genotypes with a low percentage of empty seeds even under cooler climates. We developed NIRS calibra...

Effects of seed rates on grain, straw and oil yield of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) were studied for two years in the semi-arid central Bekaa Valley of Lebanon. Three trials, two under rainfed and one under supplementary irrigations, were conducted using seed rates of 6, 12, 24 and 48 kg ha -1 corresponding to intra-row spacing of 20, 10, 5, and 2.5 cm, respectively. There was significan...

BACKGROUND Camelina sativa is an emerging dedicated oilseed crop designed for biofuel and biodiesel applications as well as a source for edible and general-purpose oils. Such valuable oilseed crop is subjected to plant breeding programs and is suggested for large-scale production of better seed and oil quality. To accomplish this objective and to further enhance its oil content, a better unders...

Increasing seed oil production is a major goal for global agriculture to meet the strong demand for oil consumption by humans and for biodiesel production. Previous studies to increase oil synthesis in plants have focused mainly on manipulation of oil pathway genes. As an alternative to single-enzyme approaches, transcription factors provide an attractive solution for altering complex traits, w...

Peanuts are one of the most important edible oil crops in the world. In order to survey key genes controlling peanut oil accumulation, we analyzed the seed transcriptome in different developmental stages of high- and low-oil peanut varieties. About 54 million high quality clean reads were generated, which corresponded to 4.85 Gb total nucleotides. These reads were assembled into 59,236 unique s...

Cucurbita pepo subsp. pepo var. Styriaca is a phylogenetically young member of the Cucurbita spp. since the mutation leading to dark green seeds with stunted outer hulls arose only in the 19th century. This mutation defined the so-called Styrian oil pumpkin and facilitated the production of Styrian pumpkin seed oil. It is a regional specialty oil in the south-eastern part of Europe. In this art...