Oil Contents and Fatty Acid Composition of Korean Perilla (Perilla ocimoides L.) Collections

This study was carried out to obtain informations on the variations of oil content and fatty acid composition among 90 Korean perilla collections. Average oil content of 90 perilla collections was 44.2% with a range from 29.7% to 61.9%. Perilla collections with late-maturing, super-large seed and gray seed coat showed higher oil content than other types in general. Average saturated fatty acid content in perilla oil was 9.0% with a range from 8.2% to 10.7%, while average unsaturated fatty acid content varied from 89.3% to 91.8% with a mean of 91.0%. Contents of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids were not related to maturity. There were no differences in the contents of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids according to maturity. Linoleic acid and linolenic acid contents were the highest in the super large-sized group(15.5%) and in the large-sized seed group(61.4%), respectively, while contents of fatty acids among the perilla collections were variable with different seed coat colors. Most of the traits studied were not significantly correlated with oil content, but linoleic acid($\omega$-6) content was negatively correlated (r=-0.217＊) with linolenic acid($\omega$-3) content.