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Genetic dissection of seed yield and yield-related traits in Brassica napus grown with contrasting nitrogen supplies

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Abstract

Oilseed rape (B. napus) is the main oil crop in China as well as in the world. Nitrogen (N) deficiency significantly reduces the seed yield of B. napus. However, a very few studies involved in the genetic mechanism of seed yield and SY-related traits of B. napus in response to N deficiency. In this study, plant height (PH), branch number per plant (BN), pod number per plant (PN), seed number per pod (SN), 1000-seed weight (SW), and seed yield per plant (SY) were investigated using a B. napus double haploid (BnaTNDH) population derived from a cross between cultivars “Tapidor” and “Ningyou7” grown at an optimal N (ON) and a low N (LN) supplies in three-year field trials. Great variations of SY and related traits were observed in BnaTNDH population under contrasting N supplies. A total of 106 and 110 significant quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were detected for six traits at ON and LN in three field trials, respectively. All of these significant QTLs for the same trait identified in two or three trials were integrated into 20 stable QTLs. A total of 50 consensus QTLs and 53 unique QTLs were obtained from 172 significant QTLs and 20 stable QTLs, including 35 ON-specific QTLs, 29 LN-specific QTLs and 39 constitutive QTLs detected at both ON and LN. cqA3l was integrated from four QTLs for PN, PH, SN, SY at LN, cqC9c was integrated from QTLs for BN, SY, PN at ON and LN. Both cqA3l and cqC9c were detected in three trials. In addition, a total of 194 epistatic interactions, inculding 15 pleiotropic epistatic interactions, were identified. Eight of the 15 pleiotropic epistatic interactions were detected to affect SY. This result may help to better understand the genetic mechanism of yield traits in response to low N and promote the breeding of N-efficient varieties.

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Data availability

The data sets supporting the results of this article are included within the article and its additional files.

Code availability

Not applicable.

Abbreviations

PH:

Plant height

BN:

Branch number per plant

PN:

Pod number per plant

SN:

Seed number per pod

SW:

Seed weight of 1000 seeds

SY:

Seed yield per plant

ON:

Optimal nitrogen

LN:

Low nitrogen

Tri.1:

Field trial conducted during 2008 − 2009

Tri.2:

Field trial conducted during 2009 − 2010

Tri.3:

Field trial conducted during 2010 − 2011

DH:

Double haploid

PVE:

Phenotypic variation

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Funding

This research was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31972498) and Natural and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (Grant No. 2662019PY013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Maoyan Zou, Wei Wang, Guangda Ding, Fangsen Xu & Lei Shi

  2. Microelement Research Centre, Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation (Middle and Lower Reaches of Yangtze River), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Maoyan Zou, Wei Wang, Guangda Ding, Fangsen Xu & Lei Shi

  3. Research Center of Buckwheat Industry Technology, Guizhou Normal University, Guizhou, 550001, China

    Taoxiong Shi

Authors
  1. Maoyan Zou
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  2. Taoxiong Shi
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  3. Wei Wang
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  4. Guangda Ding
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  5. Fangsen Xu
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  6. Lei Shi
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Contributions

MZ analyzed the data and wrote the main manuscript. TS designed and managed 3-year trials. WW analyzed the data. GD and FX taught TS and MZ to complete trials and data analysis and modified the main manuscript. LS taught TS and MZ to complete trials and data analysis, reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Lei Shi.

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Zou, M., Shi, T., Wang, W. et al. Genetic dissection of seed yield and yield-related traits in Brassica napus grown with contrasting nitrogen supplies. Mol Breeding 42, 15 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-022-01281-0

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