Combined Effects of Mepiquat Chloride and Trinexapac-ethyl on Oil Content, Lignan, Seed Yield and Endogenous Gibberellins in Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.)

Abstract

-Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) has been used for the only edible oil in Korea. We carried out the field experiment in order to investigate the possibly combined effects of mepiquat chloride (MC) and trinexapac-ethyl (TE) on oil composition, lignan content, seed yield and endogenous gibberellins content of flax cultivar. Plant growth retardants mepiquat chloride (300 and 600 ppm) and trinexapac-ethyl (100, 200 and 300 ppm) were foliar-sprayed to flax plant at 50days after seeding. The plant height was decreased in the combination of mepiquat chloride 600 ppm with trinexapac-ethyl 100, 200 and 300 ppm. Mepiquat chloride treatment combined with trinexapac-ethyl observed the highest response on seed yield, followed by mepiquat chloride 300 ppm with trinexapac-ethyl 100 ppm, mepiquat chloride 300 ppm with trinexapac-ethyl 200 ppm and mepiquat chloride 300 ppm with trinexapac-ethyl 300 ppm. Lignan content was increased in all of the combination treatments. It concludes that the combination of mepiquat chloride 300 ppm with trinexapac-ethyl 300 ppm will be useful to increasing oil and lignan content in flax plants.