MORPHOLOGICAL, PRODUCTIVE AND ENERGETIC CHARACTERISATION OF BRASSICA NAPUS IN NORTH, CENTRAL AND SOUTH ITALY

Despite the potential offered by the rape cultivation as biofuels crop, in Italy its cultivation is still almost absent. A further reason for a widerspread of this crop might arise from the exploitation of secondary products (like flour and cake) useful in various application fields. In 2010-2011, thanks to the Project EXTRAVALORE the agronomic evaluations were carried out on 38 cultivars of rape. The screening of the genotypes was performed in three different localities of Italy: in the North (Palazzolo - UD), Centre (Osimo - AN) and South Italy (Cassibile - SR). The environments signif¬icantly influenced the morpho-phenological traits and the production of the studied varieties. The best performances were obtained in Central Italy, where the rape, on average of genotypes, flowered before than in North and South Italy; moreover the plant height resulted higher. These results confirm the good adaptability to this environment for this crop. Among the cultivars, Zoom and Albatross showed yields close to 4.8 t ha^-1; other fifteen varieties have exceeded the average value. In regards to the seed oil content, two cultivars (‘Katabatic’ and ‘Adriana’) showed an average value of 48%. In northern Italy it has been obtained intermediate yields, with a more marked delay in flowering. DK Expower Hornet, Hybriswing and Fregat were the most productive (3.0 t ha^-1). The highest oil content was recorded in Albatross and Primus, (48%). In Sicily, because of the weather condition some cultivars (‘Kutiba’, ‘Ilia’, ‘Tassilo’, ‘Adriana’ and ‘Anaconda’) have not been able to flower, probably for the lack of low temperatures. The seed yields and the seed oil content, lower than 45%, resulted the lowest compared to the other environments.