The influence of environment upon the composition of sunflower seed oils. III.—Oils from sunflower seeds grown in different regions of Australia

Seeds grown in field trials of several varieties of sunflowers in diverse regions of the Australian Commonwealth have been examined in regard to the composition of their fatty oils. The results have shown close parallelism with similar studies (Barker & Hilditch, 1950a) of African sunflower seeds in that there is great variation in the proportions of linoleic and oleic acids in the oils from different localities. Seed grown in the Northern Territory gave oils of quite low linoleic content (31–36%) which would be exceptionally suitable in the edible fat industries. Those from the most southerly latitudes, on the other hand, contained 65% or more of linoleic acid and would be of interest to the paint trade. Seeds from intermediate latitudes, such as New South Wales and Queensland, contained oils of the more usual type with 50–60% of linoleic acid in their component acids.