Genotypic Differences Of Agronomic Traits And Quality In Perilla And The Effect Of Cultivation Techniques On The Yield And Quality

Perilla is an annual herb and its seeds yield as high as45%-55%oil. Perilla oil has high a-linolenic acid (60%), which is one kind of essential fatty acid important to the human health. It functions to maintain brain nerve system and has an obvious positive effect on intelligence, memory and eyesight. We investigated the agronomic traits as well as fatty acid components in seeds and leaves of34different Perilla genotypes. Moreover, four Perilla genotypes with higher-grain and high linolenic acid content of seeds were selected as the objective of a randomized block field experiment with two fertilizer levels and two density levels. Data of the major agronomic traits, fatty acid content and composition of the four genotypes were analyzed and a cultivation practice for high linolenic acid and grain yield was proposed. The major findings of our study were as the following:1. Investigation on the major agronomic traits of34Perilla genotypes and classification the agronomic traits revealed that podding characteristics distributed more uniformly, other agronomic traits were relatively concentrated distribution; in all, plant height were between130.0and174.9cm, growth period were between200and209d, most were broadly cuneate green leaves and dark brown skins, the grain yield per plant were between2.00and3.99g, and thousand seed weight were between4.00and4.99g; and that variations of agronomic trait parameters from large to small were grain weight per plant, thousand seed weight, plant height and maturity stage.2. Comparison of fatty acids in leaves and seeds and analysis of the correlations of the fatty acid components indicated a rich content of linolenic acid in seeds and that genotype S0076was minimum for all kinds of fatty acids content and total content, but the highest fatty acid content was not necessarily in the highest total content genotypes;The total content and composition of fatty acid in different genotypes of leaves was also different; and significant linear regression both in palmitic acid and in total fatty acid content were gotten.3. Analysis of agronomic traits of the randomized block field experiment found out significant differences in the major agronomic traits among different genotypes and various fertilizer quantities and planting density treatments, proposed a combination of high fertilizer level and low planting density for higher yield components, high density planting only had positive significant effect on plant height, and the grain yield showed significant difference between different genotypes.4. Analysis of fatty acid components of the randomized block field experiment suggested that there were no significant differences of the fatty acid content among different treatment in leaves; but there were significant differences of four kinds of fatty acids among the different genotypes of seeds; Moreover, content of stearic acid in the high level of fertilizer was higher than that in the low level of fertilizer content.The above results laid a solid foundation to further explore the molecular mechanism of fatty acids formation in Perilla seeds and the effects of environmental factors on the yield and quality of Perilla grains.