Molecular Plant Breeding 2016, Vol.7, No.24, 1
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Figure 2 Cluster analysis for fatty acid compositions and content of castor seed
2 Conclusion
Here, we firstly analyzed the fatty acid composition in castor seed development and their relationships, and the
results suggested that the composition were closely correlated with seed development. The findings of this work
will be useful for designing management practices to obtain a specific oil quality and in improving the predictions
of crop models.
3 Materials and Methods
3.1 Plant materials
The castor seed (2129 castor accession) was collected from Academy of Agricultural Science in Tongliao, China.
The mature and healthy seeds were grown in farmland of Inner Mongolia University for the Nationalities,
Tongliao, which belongs to the continental monsoon climate. In this district, the annual precipitation ranges from
350mm to 450mm, the annual effective windy time (the wind speed is about 3m/s to 20m/s) varies from 5000h to
6000h and the annual effective wind power density changes from 100 to 150 W/m
2
(He Junyan, 2011). The fruits
were harvested at 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 days after anthesis (Figure 1). The seeds were extracted immediately
after harvest for next experiments (Figure 1).
3.2 Measurement of relatively parameters of seed under different developmental stages
The length (
L
, longest axis) of each seed population were measured on 10 randomly selected seeds under different
development stage using a digital vernier caliper (Guanglu 0-200, China) with a reading accuracy within 0.01 mm.
Seed volume was counted based on displaced water, which is collected and weighed is used to calculate
equivalent volume of water. One hundred seeds (digital electronic balance, CPA225D) were also weighed by
means of an electronic balance reading to 0.001 g. Husk from each seed was carefully removed and then hundred
husk-seed mass was determined. Seeds were dried in an oven at 60±2°C for 3 h. One hundred weights of
de-husked and dried seeds were measured. Values obtained for weights, lengths and volume of all seeds in each
replicate were averaged. Seeds in different development stage were selected for morphological observation using
stereoscopic microscope (XTL-7046SZ, COSSIM, 7×).
3.3 Measurement of fatty acid composition and content
The crude fatty acid content of seed with different development stage was determined with three replications
using soxhlet extraction method according to Chemist and Horwitz (1980). The fatty acid composition and content
were measured according to our previous report (Huang et al., 2015b; Huang et al., 2015a). The fatty acid
composition ratio was calculated based on the corresponding chromatographic peaks. The character and structure
of fatty acid compositions in standard sample and each seed were distinguished using the total ion current (TIC) of
mass spectrometer (GC5400, Skyray Instrument, China) (Figure 3). By applying the computer automatic and
manual retrieval with NIST98 and Wiley of Mass Spectral Data (Ausloos et al., 1992; McLafferty and Stauffer,
1994), fatty acid composition during different development stages of seed was measured and analyzed.
3.4 Data analysis
All data were evaluated using Statistics 17.0 software and the results of the test performed are given with the
