In a two years' field test Culmdulo oficinulis and Cmindnnn sutivurn were shown to be promising candidates for new crops for industrial oil productions. In Calendula seed oil the main fatty acid is calendic acid containing threeconjugated double bonds.Themeanoilcontent is 19.4%,and62.8'Yoof all fatty acids are calendicacid.Seed yield potential of C. officinal proved to beexcellent,but seed sheddingisamajorproblem. Withinthespeciesawide variation was established for genetic differences in, e.g. date of flowering, flower heads per plant, ray and disk flowers and different achene types. For sowing and harvest common farm machinery can beused.In Cminndrurnsutiuurn the main fatty acid is petroselinic acid, an isomer of the oleic acid. The agronomic potential of C. sufiourn appeared to be very good and no special breeding efforts are necessy to initiate first productions. The oil content was 17.1 Yo, and 82 O h of all fatty acids consisted of oleic and petroselinic acid. In a 2 ha field trial with C. sutiuum the seed yield was as high as 25 dtlha.
Further breeding work should be directed to increase the oil content of the fruit and to possibly improve disease resistance.
Fett Wissenschaft Technolop .