Flax and Linseed - Industrial Crops: Breeding for BioEnergy and Bioproducts - page 247

been found in the food industry. On September 10 2009, the European Union
(EU) Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) reported finding an
unapproved genetically modified (GM) flax/linseed event in cereal and bakery
products in Germany. Traces of GM linseed have been found in at least seven
states. Baking ingredients contaminated with the GM linseed had been distributed
to 15 German states and also exported to other countries by a German company
based in Hessen. Linseed is an ingredient in baked goods and muesli. Consumption
of products containing minute traces of GM linseed however does not present a
health risk, but the GM variety FP967 (CDC Triffid) is not authorized for food or
feed use in the EU. The variety has tolerance to soil residues of sulfonylurea-based
herbicides and was developed by the Crop Development Centre (CDC) at the
University of Saskatchewan in Canada. As previously mentioned, the authorization
of the variety was rescinded in Canada in 2001 and the cultivation of CDC Triffid
flax has since been banned. Canada supplies approximately 70 % of the total flax/
linseed in the EU annually. Because GM flax FP967 is not authorized in the
European Union, there is zero tolerance for the variety. That means any raw
material or flax/linseed derivative analyzed to be positive for FP967 is illegal and
not marketable in the EU. The Canadian Grain Commission is investigating how
the admixture of the GM flax in linseed products could have occurred.
Seed Production
The physiology of yield in flax/linseed is influenced by a lot of internal as well as
external factors (plant morphology, sowing density, plant density, date of harvest,
type of harvest process, climatic conditions, and others). While there have been
several studies investigating the effects of plant density on yield and/or quality in
flax [ 93 , 139 - 142 ], there have been only few studies investigating the detailed
physiology of yield per se in either flax or linseed. All of the below mentioned
studies tried to find and investigate the relationships among different outside factors
influencing the ratio of stem, fiber to seed, and oil and their mutual relations
resulting to the respective quality of both stem-fiber and seed-oil. For example,
Casa et al. [ 140 ] found significantly higher influence of planting year and soil
conditions compared to plant density. However, total biomass production can be
greater in flax than in linseed [ 93 ] possibly due to higher height of plants and the
greater energy requirement associated with the higher oil seed yield in linseed.
Differentiation of biomass into stem and fiber in flax compared to branch, capsule,
and seeds in linseed is predominantly influenced by plant density. Low plant
density positively affects greater branching and higher seed yield but limits stem
and fiber yield, whereas less branching in flax and high plant densities give greater
stem yields. Flax has more rapid and sustained fiber growth, whereas linseed has
more rapid and sustained seed growth [ 93 ]. However, the harvest index for seed in
flax and linseed can be very variable [ 143 ]. Use of high-quality seeds for sowing is
recommended - these include seeds treated with fungicides. The optimum sowing