Molecular Plant Breeding 2016, Vol.7, No.24, 1
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8
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under different development stage using soxhlet extraction and capillary gas chromatography methods to find the
dynamic change of fatty acid composition and their relationships, and these results will benefit for breeding
research in high oil content of castor.
1 Results
1.1 Castor seed characteristics under different development stage
In this study Figure 1 gives the morphological observation of seed in different development stage. From 10 d to 40
d of fruit development, castor capsule gradually grown. After 50 d, fruit pericarp became dry and crack. Similar
findings were found in seeds. The seed characteristics were listed in Table 1. The seed length varied from 1.12 to
1.52 cm in different development stage, and the highest and lowest lengths were in 40 d and 10 d, respectively.
The seed volumes ranged from 1.36 to 2.27 cm
3
. The weight of 100 seeds and 100 dehusked seeds varied in a
large range from 36.84 to 48.62 g, and from 23.67 to 34.03 g, respectively. There was large amplitude of 28.49 g
in the weight of 100 dehusked oven-dried seeds.
Figure 1 Morphological characteristics of castor in different development stages. A: castor fruit; B: castor seed.
Table 1 Castor seed characteristics under different development stage
Developmental
stage (d)
Length
(cm)
Volume (cm
3
) 100-seed weight
(g)
100-seed weight
(dehusked seeds) (g)
100-seed weight (dehusked
oven-dried seeds) (g)
10
1.12±0.01a
1.36±0.01a
36.84±0.96a
23.67±1.41a
1.98±0.06a
20
1.32±0.01b
1.75±0.01b
45.01±0.72b
26.87±0.21b
9.78±0.14b
30
1.40±0.00c
2.02±0.01d
47.63±0.93c
29.38±0.57c
17.52±0.32c
40
1.52±0.00d
2.27±0.01e
48.62±0.80c
34.03±0.06d
28.16±0.02d
50
1.41±0.01c
1.96±0.01c
38.65±0.01a
30.64±0.02c
28.28±0.03d
60
1.30±0.01b
1.75±0.02b
38.41±0.04a
31.21±0.01c
30.47±0.08e
1.2 Crude fat content, fatty acid composition of castor seed under different development stage
The crude fat percentage of castor seed in different development stage ranged from 0.25% to 50.69%, while this
percentage was higher in the corresponding de-husked seeds, varied from 0.39% to 62.89% (Table 2). In addition,
this percentage of dehusked oven-dried seed also has a relatively high range, from 4.69% to 63.91%. All the
percentage values of crude fat were the highest in 60-day-old seed. The oil content of castor seed was in the
dynamic change along with seed development stage. Oil content reached the highest value at the end of seed
development (Table 2). Similarly, this rule was consistent with the findings in cotton (Song et al., 2010),
