Cropping Flax for Grain and Fiber: A Case-Study from Italy

Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) can be grown both as an oil crop and as a fiber crop, and this offers new opportunities when included in the framework of a whole-crop biorefinery, a system in which a range of products are made from portions of grain and straw and in which both of these should be satisfactorily produced. In the present experiment, the effect of flax genotypes (7 varieties), cultivation sites (two locations) and seasons (two years) were tested with a standard randomized complete block design, in search of a compromise for the production performance for both grain and straw, with the aim of reintroducing flax back into the northern Italian environment. Overall, grain yield reaches an average value of about 1.4 t ha⁻¹ (dw), while straw yield reaches 2.77 t ha⁻¹ (dw). The former is strictly dependent on the environmental effects of the growing site and season, while the effect of genotype was not significant. The straw yield also depends on the second-order interaction of the factors analyzed, although the performance of three varieties, Festival, Solal and Linoal, was noteworthy and seemed to respond well in both environments. Overall, it was found that flax can be conveniently grown for both grain and straw production.