Genetic variation of storage compounds and seed weight in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) germplasms

Abstract

One thousand five hundred rapeseed accessions were collected from gene banks in several countries and surveyed for their seed traits such as oil content, protein content, fatty acid composition and seed weight. Seed chemicals were analyzed by near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS). An extensive genetic variation existed among accessions for all seed traits examined. The oil content ranged from 24.7 to 56.9%, and the protein content ranged from 6.7 to 36.6%. A hundred seed weight ranged from 0.13 to 0.70 g. The fatty acid compositions of germplasms also varied from 2.6 to 9.2% of C16:0 (palmitic acid), 0.3 to 70.2% of C18:1 (oleic), 10.3 to 28.9% of C18:2 (linoleic), 4.8 to 15.3% of C18:3 (linolenic), 0 to 10.5% of C20:1(eicosenoic) and 0 to 59.6% of C22:1 (erucic). The oil content had strong negative correlation with protein content (r = −0.848). However, it did not have any close correlations with other traits. When the genetic stability of seed traits was examined by comparison between original seeds and self-pollinated seeds (S 1 seeds), higher positive and significant correlation coefficients between original seeds and S 1 seeds were found in all seed traits.

Variabilty of Oil and Protein Content in Rapeseed Cultivars Affected by Seeding Date

“…3) oil and protein content were in highly significant negative correlation (r = -0.730). The results obtained in our experiment are in agreement with the report of Kennedy et al (2011). These authors also observed a highly significant negative correlation between oil and protein content (r = -0.848) in rapeseed, suggesting that oil content increases on account of protein content because of competition for the source of carbon.…”

Chlorophyll and carbohydrate metabolism in developing silique and seed are prerequisite to seed oil content of Brassica napus L.

“…In Arabidopsis , Hobbs et al ( 2004 ) reported that seed oil content was not significantly correlated with seed weight. Similar result was also observed in rapeseed that seed oil content was not significantly correlated with seed weight (Kennedy et al 2011 ). However, we still propose that higher silique and seed fresh and dry weight during seed embryo development stage in HOCL could be an important basis for obtaining high seed oil content.…”

Dissection of Year Related Climatic Variables and Their Effect on Winter Rapeseed (Brassica Napus L.) Development and Yield

“…The increase of the applied N dosage might increase the percentage of seed protein, as N is its major constituent [59]. Since the percentage of the oil content has an inverse relationship with the protein content [60][61][62], it can be a possible reason for the oil content decrease with the N increase.…”