Oilseed Crops

Available Languages:

English

Primarily soybeans, and other crops such as peanuts, cottonseed, sunflower seed, flaxseed, safflower seed, rapeseed, sesame seed, castor beans, canola, rapeseed, and mustard seeds used to produce edible and/or inedible oils, as well as high-protein animal meal.

Oil-bearing crops or oil crops include both annual (usually called oilseeds) and perennial plants whose seeds, fruits or mesocarp and nuts are valued mainly for the edible or industrial oils that are extracted from them.

Narrower Topics

Carinata

UF/IFAS has been working to identify advanced genotypes of Brassica carinata (carinata) that will be profitable for cultivation as an oilseed crop in the southeastern US. Its high oil content and favorable fatty acid profile make it suitable for the biofuel industry as a biojet fuel. A near relative of collard and mustard, a variety developed by the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in 1972 can be also be grown as a green leafy vegetable in Florida.

Peanuts

Pongamia

Millettia pannata

[header and thumbnail image: Pongamia spreading down a river in south Florida. Credit: Michael Sthreshley, UF/IFAS]

Soybeans

Publications

Tung Oil Production in Florida

Patrick J. Minogue

Tung tree seed produce an oil that is valuable in wood finishing and for various other uses. Development of a later-flowering tung tree cultivar has sparked renewed interest in tung seed as a potential alternative crop for northern and central Florida on sites having relatively well-drained, fertile soils and adequate moisture. This fact sheet presents a history of tung oil production in Florida and provides the ecology and cultivation of the fast-growing trees. It outlines a plan for additional research to determine whether tung oil could again be produced in Florida.

Irrigation Scheduling for Young Pongamia (Millettia pinnata (L.) Panigrahi) Trees

Daniel Palacios-Linares, Sandra M. Guzmán, Amir Rezazadeh, Liliana M. Cano, Lorenzo Rossi, andAlan L. Wright

This publication addresses the influence of irrigation scheduling on water use, plant growth, and development for young pongamia trees (Millettia pinnata (L.) Panigrahi). Written by Daniel Palacios, Sandra M. Guzmán, Amir Rezazadeh, Liliana M. Cano, Lorenzo Rossi, and Alan Wright, and published by the UF/IFAS Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, November 2023.