Roslinsky: Pod Shatter Resistant Canola

Date: December 2009
Term: n/a
Status: Completed
Researcher(s): Dr. Vicky Roslinsky & Dr. Kevin Falk, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saskatoon. R. Wang, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saskatoon
SaskCanola Investment: n/a
Total Project Cost: n/a
Funding Partners: n/a

Project Summary

Researchers are using standard molecular biology protocols to generate a genetic framework map and to try to develop lines that include genetic control of pod shatter.

The study, conducted by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada focused on the field analysis and genetic control of pod shatter in Brassica species in an attempt to improve shatter resistance in Brassica napus.

This project was originally undertaken by post-doctoral fellow Dr. Roujing Wang, with the first two years focused on field analysis of a variety of Brassica species in addition to developing a consistent method to measure pod shatter. Anecdotal evidence suggested the yellow seeded B. napus developed at AAFC also had improved pod shatter resistance and this was confirmed, providing another opportunity to improve shatter resistance in conventional canola.

Figure 1.

Three pod shatter screening methods were developed, including the traditional field screening method, and two indoor methods including a pendulum pod shatter (PPS) testing machine and a random impact test (RIT). All three evaluation methods of pod shatter developed from this project correlate well with field yield loss measurements, and can be properly applied at different stages for pod shatter resistance breeding.

Although plant architecture and pod morphological characteristics, such as plant height, number of branches and branch angle have been reported in the literature to be correlated with pod shatter, the results of the first year of the project data showed these traits generally had weak relationships to pod shatter. Pod length was the only trait that was significantly correlated with pod shatter.

Researchers continued their work on identifying the genetic control of pod shatter. Field trials of several lines from two B. juncea populations were conducted. Lines with less than 10% shatter were considered resistant, lines with 90% or greater pod shatter susceptible, and the remaining lines intermediate. Although there were genetic differences among the various lines, the research also shows that pod shatter is highly susceptible to environmental and weather conditions. This suggests that a population should be evaluated multiple years to ensure proper phenotypic analysis. Researchers are continuing to use standard molecular biology protocols to generate a genetic framework map. Various lines with selected markers will be analyzed in field trials to try to develop genetic control of pod shatter.

Scientific Publications

Wang R, Ripley VL, Rakow G (2007) Pot shatter resistance evaluation in cultivars and breeding lines of Brassica napus, B. juncea and Sinapis alba. Plant Breeding 126: 588 -595.

Full Report PDF: Long report not available