Fatty acid composition of lipids of Australian oats

A method using methanolic sulphuric acid as transmethylating reagent was developed for determining the fatty acid composition of lipids of oats. The method was optimised for reaction conditions and applied to the determination of the fatty acid composition of lipids of a number of varieties of Australian oats grown in several locations. Thirteen fatty acids were detected with oleic, linoleic and palmitic acids comprising more than 95% of the total fatty acids. Total lipid content of the oats was positively related to the proportion of stearic (r=0.32) and oleic (r=0.81) acids and negatively correlated with the proportion of palmitic (r= -0.64), linoleic (r= -0.39) and linolenic (r= -0.65) acids. Significant positive correlations were found between total lipid content and absolute content of the major fatty acids (r=0.67 similar to 0.98), except for linolenic acid (r=0.12). Environment had significant effects on fatty acid composition, but variety was the controlling factor. The broad sense heritability estimated from individual plot ranged from 69 to 73% and that from the average of three replications and eight locations ranged from 94 to 98% for the major fatty acids. It is possible to improve fatty acid composition of oats by breeding procedures. (C) 1998 Academic Press.