The effect of cultivar, sample date and grazing on the concentration of s-methylcysteine sulphoxide in oilseed and forage rapes (brassica napus)

✍ Scribed by D Wynne Griffiths; William H Macfarlane-Smith; Brian Boag

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 460 KB
• Volume: 64
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5142
• DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.2740640307

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

A study of the S‐methylcysteine sulphoxide (SMCO) concentration in foliage from four double‐zero, three single‐zero cultivars of oilseed rape and four cultivars of forage rape revealed little inter‐cultivar variation. Significant differences were however found with respect to harvest date, with the concentration of SMCO remaining fairly constant over the early winter period but then increasing as the plants commenced regrowth in the late winter‐early spring. Continual exposure of plots to grazing wild rabbits produced small but statistically significant changes in SMCO concentration but compared with seasonal differences the changes due to grazing were small and inconsistant. These findings are discussed in relation to the recently reported harmful effects of double zero oilseed rape cultivars on browsing wildlife.