Improvement of spring canola Brassica napus by use of winter canola

Abstract

Further improving of seed yield, other agronomic and seed quality traits in spring canola Brassica napus
requires broadening of genetic diversity in this crop. The European winter oilseed B. napus is known to be
genetically diverse from spring oilseed B. napus. We hypothesized that elite spring canola B. napus lines
with greater seed yield and genetic diversity can be achieved through the use of European winter B. napus.
For this, a winter x spring B. napus breeding program was undertaken at the University of Alberta, and
pedigree and doubled haploid breeding techniques were applied. Spring canola lines with significantly increased
seed yield were obtained in one cycle of breeding. Estimates of genetic diversity based on SSR
markers revealed that some of the spring canola lines derived from winter x spring crosses possess greater
diversity compared to the spring parents. The major constraint of this winter x spring breeding is that lateness
of flowering and maturity are generally introduced into the spring type lines which would require repeated
cycle of breeding for improvement.