Role of Plant Growth Regulators on oil yield and biodiesel production of Linseed (Linum usitatissimum L)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to compare the effect of plant growth regulators (PGRs) viz. kinetin (K), chlorocholine chloride (CCC) and salicylic acid (SA) on seed yield, oil content and oil quality of Linseed (Linum usitatissimum L) cv. Chandni with a new perspective to biodiesel production. The growth regulators (10⁻⁶M) were applied as seed soaking for 10 h prior to cultivation. Kinetin significantly increased the number of capsules/plant, seed number/capsule, 1000 seed weight and total seed yield (kg/h). The growth regulators increased the seed oil content maximum being in kinetin and CCC treatments. Kinetin and CCC significantly decreased the oil acid value, free fatty acid content (% oleic acid) and increased the pH of oil. Nevertheless, SA significantly decreased the oil specific gravity and did not alter the pH. Only kinetin significantly increased the oil iodine value. The oil extracted from seeds of kinetin and CCC treated plants showed maximum conversion (% w/w) to methyl esters/biodiesel after transesterfication. It can be inferred that PGRs can be utilized successfully for improving the biodiesel yield of linseed.