Oil crops

Oil crops accumulate fats in their fruits, seeds or other parts is such amounts that it is economic to use them in the industry. Oil crops belong to various families and include both perennial and annual species , and winter and spring forms. The perennial species include the olive which is an important oil crop in the Mediterranean are, oleic palm and coconut palm in the subtropical area. In the temperate zone annual species are grown. From the Brassicaceae family it is mainly rape, From the hvězdnicovité family, the most important species is common sunflower, much less is grown safflower. Oil crops also include plants for spinning such as cultivated flax, Indian hemp and cotton plant. Poppy seed, corn sprouts, tobacco seed and castor bean are used, too. The most important oil plant worldwide is soya.

 Most oil crops are used for oil production for food or technical purposes. As feed component , oil industry by products are used such as oil cake or extracted meals that serve as protein components of the diets. The use of whole seed is not very common. Oil crops may also be used as fodder or green manure.