Canola (Brassica napus) is a plant species that contains erucic acid and glucosinolate as harmful to living things, obtained as a result of breeding rapeseed. Its oil, unlike its plant, is not harmful and is used as a food for humans and livestock. Canola oil has non-food uses, just like soybean oil. It can replace non-renewable petroleum-based oils in the production of products such as candles, lipsticks, industrial oils, newspaper ink, biofuels, depending on the price in the spot markets.
Because this variety was first developed in Canada, the name "canola" is derived from the English words "Canada" ("Canada") and "Ola" (oil low acid - "low acid oil").
Canola (Brassica napus Canola Oleifera sp.) is an oil plant with two physiological periods, winter and summer. It is an important oil plant with 38-50% oil and 16-24% protein in canola grain.
As a source of vegetable oil, sunflower, which is oilseed plants, ranks third in terms of production among soybean, cotton and peanuts. Annual production in the world is around 22 million tons. Among the top producing countries, China has 4.5 million ha, India 4.4, Canada 2.8, Poland 0.5, France 0.47, Pakistan 0.4, Germany 0.4, England 0.3 million ha.
It was brought to Turkey under the name of rapeseed by immigrants from the Balkans in the 1960s and found cultivation areas in Thrace. It is also known as rapiska, rapitsa, rapeseed. However, the cultivation of rapeseed was banned in 1979 due to the presence of erucic acid in its oil, which is harmful to human health, and glucosinolate in its pulp, which is harmful to animal health.