Researchers at Michigan State University are working to turn the rutabaga into an oil-producing powerhouse that could make the turnip-like vegetable a better source of biofuel than other food crops.
The idea is that the rutabaga, which stores oil in its seeds like some other biofuel crops, could be genetically modified to churn out more oil and store it throughout the plant.
“If we could make it in the green tissues, like the leaves, stems or even underground tissues like storage roots, then we think we can make a lot more,” professor Christoph Benning said.
Benning and his fellow researchers at Michigan State in East Lansing have inserted a gene into rutabagas to try to get them to accumulate oil instead of starch throughout the plant.
It took about a year to grow the first generation of genetically modified rutabaga in a university greenhouse, Benning said. The scientists will analyze seedlings from subsequent generations to see how oil production has been affected. Even if all works as expected, it could take 15 years before rutabaga biofuel becomes a reality, he said.
A goal, Benning said, is to grow rutabagas two or three times as efficient at producing oil as canola, a major biofuel crop. That could make it a “game changer” in the biofuel industry, he said.
The parts of genetically modified rutabagas that aren’t harvested for oil could be used for animal feed, Benning said.
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