Management of environmental crop conditions to produce useful sunflower oil components

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of water availability and temperature after flowering on oil, major fatty acid and sterol contents in seeds of standard and oleic sunflower genotypes, under managed and controlled field conditions. When water deficit was effective from the beginning to the end of anthesis, it modified the fatty acid composition of standard hybrids. When water was supplied, a major enhancement of oleic acid content was associated with a concomitant reduction of linoleic acid content and a decrease in saturated fatty acid contents. Higher temperatures increased the oleic acid content in seeds of standard hybrids. Oil content was enhanced under colder temperature and irrigation. The content of minor oil components, phytosterols, was also enhanced when seed development occurred under high temperature and severe water stress. As a whole, the data showed that combining water management, sowing date and choice of genotype may orientate the biosynthesis of seed components and thus generate seed composition variability suitable for industrial purposes.