In the EU the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform of 2004 has established a gradual reduction in incentives for the production of tobacco. In Italy there was a reduction of about 30% of the area under tobacco cultivation from 2000 to 2010. Value-added products, such as tobacco seed oil (TSO), could enhance economic returns to tobacco farmers and avoid further reduction of the cultivated area. It is known that tobacco seed is rich in oil, free of nicotine, and is classified as semi-drying oil which is used as a raw material in the soap, varnish and coating industry and might be an appropriate substitute for diesel fuel, and as a non-food renewable source of energy.

In order to evaluate the feasibility of diversifying the use pattern of the tobacco crop, a study of the effect of leaf priming on seed oil yield was performed in 2011 and replicated in 2012.

Two tobacco genotypes (I917 and Pr81), with high seed yield, were evaluated in a trial performed in the experimental field of COTIR, at two planting densities (S1 = 4 plants m^-2 and S2 = 8 plants m^-2 respectively) under unprimed and primed conditions (M1 and M2 respectively), for assessment of seed and oil yield. Results showed an increase of 38.5%, on average, of tobacco leaf dry matter yield at S2 plant density; a leaf dry matter yield of 5.94 t ha^-1 for I917 and of 5.13 t ha^-1 for Pr81. At plant density S2, an increase of 32.5%, on average, of oil yield was also observed. No significant difference in tobacco seed oil yield between unprimed and primed conditions (499 l ha^-1 at M1 and 516 l ha^-1 at M2) was observed.