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Mapping of days to flower and seed yield in spring oilseed Brassica napus carrying genome content introgressed from Brassica oleracea

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Abstract

Earliness of flowering and maturity and high seed yield are important objectives of breeding spring Brassica napus canola. Previously, we have introgressed earliness of flowering from Brassica oleracea into spring B. napus canola through interspecific crossing between these two species. In this paper, we report quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping of days to flower and seed yield by use of publicly available markers and markers designed based on flowering time genes and a doubled haploid population, derived from crossing of the spring canola parent and an early flowering line developed from a B. napus × B. oleracea cross, tested in nine field trials for over 5 years. Five genomic regions associated with days to flower were identified on C1, C2, C3, and C6 of which the single QTL of C1 was detected in all trials; in all cases, the allele introgressed from B. oleracea reduced the number of days to flower. BLASTn search in the Brassica genomes located the physical position of the QTL markers and identified putative flowering time genes in these regions. In the case of seed yield, ten QTL from eight linkage groups were detected; however, none could be consistently detected in all trials. The QTL region of C1 associated with days to flower did not show significant association with seed yield in more than 80% of the field trials; however, in a single trial, the allele introgressed from B. oleracea exerted a negative effect on seed yield. Thus, the genomic regions and molecular markers identified in this research could potentially be used in breeding for the development of early flowering B. napus canola cultivars without affecting seed yield in a majority of the environments.

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Acknowledgments

HR gratefully acknowledges the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions (AI-Bio), the Alberta Crop Industry Development Fund (ACIDF), the Alberta Canola Producers Commission (ACPC) and the industry partner for funding this project; and the Canada Foundation for Innovation for support for infrastructure development in the Canola Program of the University of Alberta. The authors are thankful to An Vo, Salvador Lopez, and other staff from the Canola Program for assistance in various routine work. RAB thank Prof. Christian Jung, University of Kiel, Germany, for providing training for 4 weeks in his laboratory.

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  1. Rick A. Bennett

    Present address: Agrisoma Biosciences Inc., Saskatoon, SK, S7N 0W9, Canada

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  1. Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2P5, Canada

    Habibur Rahman, Rick A. Bennett & Berisso Kebede

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Rahman, H., Bennett, R.A. & Kebede, B. Mapping of days to flower and seed yield in spring oilseed Brassica napus carrying genome content introgressed from Brassica oleracea . Mol Breeding 37, 5 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-016-0608-2

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