Optimum flowering time is the key to maximize canola production in order to meet global demand of vegetable oil, biodiesel and canola-meal. We reveal extensive variation in flowering time across diverse genotypes of canola under f ield, glasshouse and controlled environmental conditions. We conduct a genome-wide association study and identify 69 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers associated with flowering time, which are repeatedly detected across experiments. Several associated SNPs occur in clusters across the canola genome; seven of them were detected within 20 Kb regions of a priori candidate genes; FLOWERING LOCUS T, FRUIT-FUL, FLOWERING LOCUS C, CONSTANS, FRIGIDA, PHYTOCHROME B and an additional five SNPs were localized within 14 Kb of a previously identified quantitative trait loci for flowering time. Expression analyses showed that among FLC paralogs, BnFLC.A2 accounts for~23% of natural variation in diverse accessions. Genome-wide association analysis for FLC expression levels mapped not only BnFLC. C2 but also other loci that contribute to variation in FLC expression. In addition to revealing the complex genetic architecture of flowering time variation, we demonstrate that the identified SNPs can be modelled to predict flowering time in diverse canola germplasm accurately and hence are suitable for genomic selection of adaptative traits in canola improvement programmes.

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One hundred wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) accessions were selected on the basis of different geographical areas of Pakistan. Isolation and identification of seed born fungi were conducted according to standard blotter test and a total of five major seed borne fungi including Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus niger, Fusarium species, Drechslera species and Phytophthora species were isolated from the wheat seeds. The frequency of occurrence of these five seed born fungi was 49, 46, 42, 35, and 16%, respectively. Infection percentage varied from 0 to 90% in all 100 wheat accessions. Among the accessions, the highest infection (100%) of seed born fungi was recorded in 011185 and 011757 accessions while the lowest infection (10%) was recorded in 011415 accessions. Moreover, in accessions collected from Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu Kashmir. Alternaria niger and Alternaria fusarium were dominant, while in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa province, A. niger was prevalent followed by A. alternata. In the case of Baluchistan province, the dominant seed born fungi was A. alternata followed by Drechslera spp. Similarly, in case of Punjab, the occurrence of A. alternata, Drechslera spp., Fusarium spp., and A. niger associated with seeds were similar. For accession collected from Sindh province, the dominant seed born fungi was A. niger and Drechslera spp. However, the Phytophthora spp. infection of wheat seeds accession of Baluchistan was the highest followed by wheat seeds accession collected from Gilgit Baltistan and AJK, Kpk and Punjab, whereas wheat seeds accessions collected from Sindh province were found to be free from Phytophthora spp.