Flax and Linseed - Industrial Crops: Breeding for BioEnergy and Bioproducts - page 241

Fig. 11.4 Structure of the flax database (IFDB) according to the origin
advanced cultivars, followed by the breeding lines. This trend is evident in the
genebanks which are often located in the research or breeding institutes especially
interested in breeding activities and the development of local varieties. Accessions
categorized as “landraces” are maintained in the genebanks with long history like in
VIR, Russia; Sadovo, Bulgaria; and Sumperk, Czech Republic, where the base
collection of historical flax and linseed materials are found. Accessions categorized
as “breeder's lines” and “landraces” in IFDB are practically comparable. Those
categorized as “wild material” are registered in individual genebanks such as in
Sadovo, Bulgaria; IPK, Germany; and IBF, Poland. The decision of the respective
genebank managers will determine if accessions in this last category will become
the part of L. usitatissimum collection or not. Accessions categorized with
“unknown” origin comprise nearly 57 % in ISCI Bologna, Italy; 37 % in IPK,
Germany; and 30 % in IBC, Ukraine.
Major Breeding Achievements
Contemporary trends, breeding aims, and methods of flax/linseed breeding have
been recently described in the Handbook of Natural Fibres [ 59 ]. The publication
presented the latest up-to-date methods of linseed breeding specifically focused on
increasing its utilization in the food industry, for bioproducts, and in medicinal and
pharmaceutical applications due to its nutrition value and demonstrable benefit for
human health.
Flax/linseed is very important crop with regard to its content of essential
unsaturated fatty acids (EFAs) in its seed oil and phytoestrogens (plant lignans,
SECO - secoisolariciresinol), proteins, and dietary fibers in seed meal. The seeds
also contain less amount of carotenoid lutein and considerable amounts of
antinutritional substances cyanogenic glycosides (CG) as well.