Preface Oil bearing plant species that contribute to the vegetable oil kitty of India are varied and diverse. There has been a long and continuous effort both from research side and on the production front, to enhance the production and productivity of these diverse plant species. There was a breakthrough in the stagnant Indian oilseed production during the decades of nineteen eighties to nineteen nineties, which gave confidence to achieve self-sufficiency in the production of vegetable oils. Nevertheless, one could see the inescapable escalation of the demand for vegetable oils not only in India; but world over. While the area expansion of oilseed crops is out of question in a country like India, the only option that we have is to enhance the recoverable genetic potential of oilseed crops at the same time strengthening their management at farmers’ level with emphasis on enhancement of productivity per unit of water and nutrients utilized. The era of biotechnology genetic engineering and genomics should take oilseed crops to their new heights of production potentials. A research worker or a student of oilseeds naturally should be interested to gather the relevant details with regard to each of the oilseed bearing plant species that would not only initiate him into the study of oilseeds but also generate keen interest to probe more into the intricacies of the subject. An effort is made in this book to meet the above requirement. A considerable chunk of edible vegetable oils like those of soybean and rapeseed-mustard are being diverted for production of biodiesel, which should not be encouraged, since we see increasing number of low income populations are in need of the edible oils for their consumption added to the prevailing wide gap between the demand and production of vegetable oils. The nonedible oils from vast number of productive oil bearing trees should be used for the production of biodiesel. Steps should be taken to enhance the research on this group of oil bearing trees to reap benefits out of them. At present there is no tangible effort to enhance the genetic potential of this group of trees. Inclusion of a perennial oil-bearing trees in the cropping systems of farmers would not only contribute to the overall production of oilseeds at the national level; but would also augment the income levels of farmers particularly the small and marginal dryland farmers imparting stability to overall farm production. It may be recalled that during the worst drought years of India viz., 1972, 1974 and 1979, the 500 and odd villages in the country escaped the adverse impact drought largely due to the presence of Pongamia pinnata tree populations on the farmers’ holdings. The perennial oil bearing trees like Pongamia offer a silver lining to the otherwise dark picture of loss of soil fertility and complex environmental deterioration through their proven capacity to ameliorate soil and enhance the agro-ecosystems. Another aspect that deserves more attention is about the protein component of oilseeds. Apart from soybean known for its protein content, every oilseed bearing plant has the potential to contribute to the protein kitty of the nation, provided we pay more attention to this aspect.

Oilseed Crops consist of those groups of plants cultivated for substantial quantities of the oil, vegetable fat obtained from the seeds (endosperm) of the plants. The major oilseeds grown world over are soybeans, sunflowers, rapeseed – mustard (or canola in USA & Canada), groundnuts (peanuts) and linseed. Seed oils from flax (linseed) and castor beans are used for industrial purposes. These Oilseed crops including oilseed bearing trees are the basic biological systems that produce oils, contributing to renewable energy production, help stabilize greenhouse gases, and mitigate the risk of climate change (Jaradat, 2016) The oilseed crops are of heterogeneous group of plant species not having any common morphological and genetic features except production of seed oil. Crops like groundnut, sesame, castor bean, soybean and niger are grown during the rainy season and the others like rapeseed and mustard and safflower are grown in the post rainy season. Sunflower, however, may be grown in both the seasons. Hence the individual crops forming the conglomerate of Oilseed crops have to be treated differently for their improvement and production. Nevertheless, all of them produce a common end product viz., oil or vegetable fat, the importance of which is growing in product development, commerce and human and farm animal nutrition. The oilseed bearing crops have to be treated as a unique group in terms of research and development to come up with strategies for their judicious exploitation in the national farm economy. From the scientific point of view, the oilseed crops are energy rich and offer impressive potentials in terms of realizable production levels and valuable product development. In India good progress has been achieved so far in research and development of some oilseed crops; but there exists a need to scale to newer heights in terms of realising the hidden potentials of oilseed crops through basic and strategic research, with an integrated approach.

Introduction Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important traditional oilseed crop of India contributing to 3.9 million tons of global vegetable oil ranking the sixth in the sequence of oilseed crops. Added to its importance as an oilseed, groundnut is also an important food legume cultivated in an area of about 22 million hectares worldwide leading to a production of 38.6 million tons as per the FAO statistics of 2011 (ICRISAT, 2017). China and India are the leading groundnut producers followed by USA and Nigeria. Africa with 12.40 m ha area and 11.54 m tons of production, and Asia with 11.87 m ha and 29.95 m tons, together account for 95% global groundnut area and 91% of global groundnut production. There was a substantial increase in global groundnut production by about 5 m tons in 2013, from 40 m tons in 2012. In the last decade, 2004–2013, global groundnut production increased by 24%, contributed by 7% increase in groundnut area, and 16% increase in yield. The projected global demand for groundnut and its related products is expected to increase and so there is a need to further increase production and productivity to meet the demand. Among the different oilseed crops grown in India, groundnut is the major crops grown in kharif / monsoon season. Among different states if India, Gujarat is the prominent state growing groundnut. Groundnut has a long history of cultivation since the plant was domesticated and cultivated by the indigenous tribes such as Incas of Peru in South America for more than 1500 years. It is believed that the cultivated groundnut was introduced into India by the Spanish colonizers (Krapovickas, 1968). Groundnut is believed to have been introduced into the USA by the African slaves. Groundnut crop has found an ecological niche in the tropical and warm temperate zones of world, due its impressive adaptability.

Introduction Mustard and rapeseed crops were grown since 3000 BC in the Indus valley and their use has been mentioned in the Ayurveda Simhata. Use of mustard oil is recorded in the last few centuries of the pre Christian era. The global production of rapeseed-mustard is at 72 million tons (USDA), while that of the oil is 24 million tons. Currently China is the largest producer of mustard in the world. China, India and Pakistan grow about 90% of the world production of mustard. Rapeseed and mustard form the third important group of oilseed crops in the world after soybean (Glycine max) and palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq). The word ‘rape’ and ‘mustard’ have been derived from the word rapum meaning turnip and European practice of mixing the sweet ‘must’ of old wine with crushed seeds of black mustard (Brassica nigra L. Koch) to form a hot paste, respectively (Hemingway 1976). Among the seven edible oilseeds cultivated in India, rapeseed-mustard (Brassica spp.) contributes 26.2% in the total production of oilseeds. In India, the rapeseed-mustard group is the third most important edible oilseed after soybean and groundnut, sharing 27.8% in the India’s oilseed economy. In India rapeseed and mustard are grown during the post-rainy winter season over an area of 7.49 million ha. Around 20% of the total area under rapeseed-mustard in India is totally under dryland cultivation subject to vagaries associated with dryland agriculture.

Introduction Soybean has earned a place of prominence in world agriculture as one of the most important food crops contributing to protein and oil production. Pertaining to the family Fabaceae, soybean is a legume with over 42% protein and 20% oil in its seeds. The crop fits into the production system of monsoon rainy season of India during the period from June to October and can be grown on wide variety of soils; but performs best on fertile heavier soils of clay and silt. Soybeans originated in Southeast Asia and were first domesticated by Chinese farmers around 1100 BC. By the first century AD, soybeans were grown in Japan and many other countries. Soybean seed from China was planted by a colonist in the British colony of Georgia in 1765. Introduction of soybean to Indian subcontinent dates back to 1000 AD through silk route from north-eastern India and Himalayan mountains. The black-seeded soybean has been traditionally grown in North and north-eastern regions of India and further spread to different parts of the country. This black-seeded soybean, Kalitur, was the vehicle for soybean revolution in India. The major initiative on soybean cultivation was undertaken during 1963-64 by G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT), Pantnagar and JNKVV Agricultural University, Jabalpur in collaboration with University of Illinois, USA. The cultivation has further picked up after the researchers took advantage of yellow-seeded material to develop high-yielding varieties that suited Indian conditions. Soybean cultivation got momentum during the 1970s as the vast monsoon fallow lands of Madhya Pradesh provided appropriate niche for its cultivation. Presently soybean is cultivated on nearly 10 million ha land with likely production of above 10 million tonnes.

Introduction Cultivated sesame (Sesamum indicum L.), has originated in India (Bedigian,1984; Bedigian et al., 1985; Bedigian and Harlan,1986) and is considered to be the oldest oilseed crop known to man (Ram et al 1990). Archaeological records indicate that it was known and used in India for more than 5,000 years and is recorded as a crop in Babylon and Assyria some 4,000 years ago (Borchani et al., 2010). Sesame crop is being grown in many parts of the world. Sesame seed is an important source of edible oil and is also widely used as a spice and condiment. The seed contains 50-60% oil which has excellent stability due to the presence of natural antioxidants such as sesamolin, sesamin and sesamol (Brar and Ahuja 1979). Sesamum indicum L., belongs to the family Pedaliaceae, which contains sixteen genera and sixty species under the generic name Sesamum. The other species related to sesame viz., Sesamum angustifolium, Sesamum radiatum and Certotheca sesamoides (false sesame) are cultivated in Africa. The fact that the crop is cultivated in India from times immemorial is testified by the excavations of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro of undivided India (Watt,1966). The crop was introduced into Brazil by the Portuguese (Weiss, 2000). World production of sesame seed didn’t show any marked increase for the past three decades, although sesame oil is used largely in Asia and Africa. The current world production of sesame stands at 6.1 million tons as in the year 2016. The sesame production declined world over since the crop had to face a tough competition against other oilseed crops (Weiss, 2000). Most of the world trade on sesame revolves around the seed. The shipments of seed cake and oil are negligible.

Introduction The Heliantheae are the third-largest tribe in the sunflower family (Asteraceae). With some 190 genera and nearly 2500 recognized species, only the tribes Senecioneae and Astereae are larger. The name is derived from the genus Helianthus, which is Greek for sunflower. This is one of the large and predominantly flourishing flowering botanical groups occurring in almost all parts of the world. Except for three species in South America, all other Helianthus species are native to North America and Central America i.e., Southwest United States-Mexico area (Heiser, 1976). The common name, “sunflower”, typically refers to the popular annual species Helianthus annuus, or the common sunflower, whose round flower heads in combination with the ligules look like the sun. This and other species, notably Jerusalem artichoke (H. tuberosus), are cultivated in temperate regions and some tropical regions as food crops for humans, cattle, and poultry, and as ornamental plants. The species H. annuus typically grows during the summer, post summer rainy season and later in post-rainy season too with the peak growth during pre-summer season with temperatures ranging from 28oC to 35oC in India. Domestication of sunflower started around 4,000 years ago in Eastern North America by the native tribes of American continent (Blackman et al., 2011). The current annual oilseed yielding sunflower was cultivated originally by local inhabitant tribes (Weiss, 2000), who used the seed as a source of food. The adaptations in annual sunflower to human cultivation include a dramatic increase in apical dominance, an increase in seed size, the loss of natural seed dispersal and seed dormancy, and the loss of self-incompatibility (Wills and Burke, 2007).

Introduction Safflower belongs to the family Asteraceae, which is also called Compositae, the aster, daisy, or composite family of the flowering-plant order Asterales.tribe Cardueae (thistles) and subtribe Centaureinae . With more than 1,911 genera and 32,913 accepted species of herbs, shrubs, and trees distributed throughout the world, Asteraceae is one of the largest plant families. The species of the family are annuals and perennials of worldwide distribution, consisting of ornamentals, vegetables and spice or medicinal plants. The genus Carthamus L., contains about 25 valid species distributed from Spain, North America and West Asia to India. Many are indigenous to the Mediterranean region, but only one viz., Carthamus tinctorius L. (safflower) is cultivated for oil. Safflower is a diploid species (2n=24). The probable origin of cultivated safflower is the area bounded by the Eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. Safflower is grown as edible oil crop in pots, as strip crop, on field borders or around home-steads in the tropical Asia, Africa, Russia and China. Safflower is more drought resistant than other oilseed crops and can yield well on drylands, exploiting sub-soil moisture. (Lovelli et al., 2007). Safflower is also salt tolerant and can be grown on soils affected by some degree of salinity (Bassil and Kaffka, 2002). The safflower plant has a history of long domestication, initially for orange red dye obtained from florets of the plant. The plant was identified as growing in Egypt in 2000 BC, introduced from Euphrates (Weiss, 2000). Safflower oil has unique variation in fatty acid composition (Knowels, 1969). In general, linoleic acid is the dominant fatty acid ranging from 70 to 78% in local types. In improved types oleic acid ranges from 70 to 75%.

Introduction and History Niger, Guizotia abyssinica (L.f.) Cass. [Asteraceae] is commonly known as nigerseed [English]; noug, guizotia oléifère [French]; verbesina da Índia, abisin, negrillo, ramtilla [Spanish]; ramtil, nigersaat [Dutch]; [Amharic];[Chinese]; Ram-til[Hindi]; Gurellu [Kannada]; Verri-nuvvulu (Telugu) Karalle[Marathi] and Jhusetil [Nepali] Niger’s other synonym is Guizotia oleifera DC., Polynya abyssinica L. f. Niger (Guizotia abyssinica (L. f.) Cass.) is an oilseed crop cultivated in Ethiopia and India for its edible oil. Niger plant is originated in highlands of Northern Ethiopia (Weiss, 2000). The crop is reported to have been introduced into India from Ethiopia during around2000BC. The Ancient Agau people of Ethiopia had a well-developed agriculture, who traded with Egypt which facilitated the exchange by barter that included Niger too (Weiss, 2000). Currently, Niger is an important oilseed crop of Ethiopia. Ground niger seeds and chillies are the main components of the traditional stew known as wat of Ethiopia. Niger is the most important oilseed crop of Ethiopia contributing to 50% of the country’s oilseed production. Although the crop is grown throughout the country, the main production centres are Begemdir, Gojam and Welaga (Weiss, 2000). Since the Ethiopian government actively supports the oilseed industry, production was on steady increase till 1974. With the fall in the production post-civil war in 1974, most of the niger produced is consumed domestically and the exports got dwindled.

Introduction Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.), also known as common flax or linseed, is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. Linseed is an annual oil crop that is grown either for its fibre (fibre flax) or for its oil. The area under annual cultivation is 3 million hectares, accounting for 1% of the total world production of plant oil. The five major flax-producing countries are Canada, China, India, the United States, and the European Union.Canada with 614,000 metric tonnes of flaxseed produced in the year 2013-2014, is the world’s largest producer of flax and accounts for nearly 80% of the global trade in flaxseed (Oomah 2001; Bhatty, 1995) Flaxseed, of Mesopotamic origin, has been cultivated in Mediterranean region and India since 5000 BC, being used principally for the fabrication of cloths and papers (Soni, et al., 2016). With the adoption of cotton as a fibre crop for cloth preparation, fibre flax production declined and the major use of flax was switched from stem fibre to seed oil. It is a food and fibre crop cultivated in cooler regions of the world. Textiles made from flax are known in the Western countries as linen, and traditionally used for bed sheets, underclothes, and table linen. Its oil is known as linseed oil. In addition to referring to the plant itself, the word “flax” may refer to the unspun fibres of the flax plant. The plant species is known only as a cultivated plant and appears to have been domesticated just once from the wild species Linum bienne, called pale flax. (Allaby et al.,2005). Fibre flax is currently grown in the cool-temperate regions of China, the Russian Federation and Western Europe while linseed cultivars are grown in Canada, India, China, the United States and Argentina (Green et al., 2008).

Introduction Castor plant (Ricinus communis L) is an age old crop of India which has been in use in Ayurvedic medicine since 2000 BC, when the oil was used in lamps and also in local medicine particularly as a laxative and also to cure arthritis. The seeds of the crop yield non-edible viscous oil which has a number of applications in industry apart from its medicinal properties, which are well documented in Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani medicine. The word Ricinus in the scientific name of the castor plant has cropped due to the appearance of its seed resembling dog’s tick! Castor is cultivated on commercial scale in an area of 1,296,855 ha in 30 countries with global castor seed production at 1,396,104 MT (FAO STAT, 2019). India is the world’s single largest producer of castor seed accounting for more than 85% followed by China with about 7% and Brazil with about 5% of world castor seed output. There has been a consistent increase in output primarily on account of rise in yield levels in India. In recent years, however, Brazil and China have experienced stagnation in castor crop. Castor is widely grown in Ethiopia too. Among oilseed crops of India, castor crop has registered positive and high growth rate along with soybean (Mohapatra 2017).

Introduction Indian oilseeds scenario has been able to surmount the crisis of prolonged stagnation with increased production in the decades of 1980s and 1990s (Prasad 1991). Nevertheless, in the face of growing demands of vegetable oil both for human consumption and industrial use, there is every need to augment the oilseed production to new heights of sustainability (Prasad 1994a). Apart from the traditional sources of vegetable oils from annual crops like groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, sesame, sunflower, safflower, niger, linseed, castor and soybean besides cotton seed and rice bran, more than 100 species of domesticated or wild plant species of India are known to contain oil in considerable quantities (Prasad, 1994c). In addition to the production from nine traditional oilseeds mentioned above, 3 million tonnes of vegetable oil is being harnessed from secondary sources like cottonseed, rice bran, coconut, Tree Borne Oilseeds (TBOs) and Oil Palm. Subramanian et al., (2005) reported that there are over 300 different species of trees which produce oil bearing seeds. Thus, there is a significant potential for non-edible oil source from different plants for biodiesel production as an alternative to petrodiesel. It is estimated that TBOs have the potential to contribute more than 3 million tons of oil; but only a fraction of the potential is realised currently. Seeds of many of the oil bearing trees have been used by the ethnic communities for different purposes. Apart from seed oil, the trees yield valuable by-products including cake, which have industrial applications (Hocking, 1993; Chakravarty et al., 2012). There are many species of plants found wild or cultivated inside as well as outside the forest areas containing sizeable amount of vegetable oil having domestic and industrial utility. Out of these species.The country has enormous potential of oilseeds of tree origin like Mahua (Madhuca indica and M. longifolia ), Sal (Shorea robusta), Neem (Azadirachta indica), Simarouba (Simarouba glauca), Karanj (Pongamia pinnata), Ratanjyot /physic nut (Jatropha curcas), Jojoba (Simmondsia chinesis), Cheura (Diploknema butyracea), Kokum (Garcinia indica), wild Apricot (Prunus armeniaca), wild Walnut (Aleurites molucana), Kusum (Schleichera oleosa), Undi ( Calophyllum inophyllum), Tung (Verniciafordii) etc. which can be grown and established on the wastelands and under varied agroclimatic conditions.

In recent years, oilseed crops are being increasingly exploited for production of pharmaceuticals, surfactants, plasticisers, emulsifiers, detergents, lubricants, adhesives, cosmetics, oleo-chemicals, biofuels apart from their demand for their healthy vegetable oils and livestock feeds (Metzger and Bornscheuer, 2006). The increased interest resulted in an 82% expansion of oilseed crop cultivation areas and about a 240% increase in total world production over the last 30 years (Rahman and Jimenez., 2016).

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