Oil and fibre aren’t mutually exclusive.
Researcher Natalie Coetzee says after three years of plot trials, her work indicates oilseed flax varieties have fibre in their genes.
Canada is the world’s largest exporter of flax, most of it grown in Saskatchewan.
For generations Canadian flax breeders worked to reduce the crop’s straw component and boost seed yield.
The strong, durable fibre in flax straw has long been an irritant to producers and most manage their straw after harvest with a match. This practice has been met with public concern and in some jurisdictions farmers are now required to obtain a permit to burn flax straw.
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But now there is a new market for flax fibre, created by international demand for cotton substitutes and a public desire for recyclable materials that would replace synthetics and mined products.
However, little work had been done to analyze the fibre in what had become an industrial oilseed crop.
“We were pleasantly surprised to find out (through near infrared testing) that fibre variability still exists in the crop,” Coetzee said.
“And that NIR can be used to test for a wide range in variability, meaning we have some tools to evaluate fibre quality fairly quickly.”
Coetzee found some oilseed varieties contained fibre with the same qualities as Hermes, specialty fibre flax used in linen production.
“Even better, we were able to select for the trait (in the oilseed varieties) and it showed up very early in our work … without loss in oilseed yield,” she said.
Coetzee and her colleagues at the University of Saskatchewan are now establishing breeding methods to capture the yield potential of both the fibre and the seed.
