Heterotic Gene Pool Development in Brassica napus.

Brassica napus is a global oilseed crop that contributes valuable edible and industrial oil profiles to the world’s oleochemical market. Canada is a global leader in the production and export of this valuable oilseed commodity. To continually match global demand, plant breeding programs must increase yield and agronomic performance and heterosis can be exploited to help achieve these goals. Heterosis or hybrid vigor has been widely utilized in hybrid development in multiple crops such as maize, sorghum, sunflower and rice. Heterotic gains are suspected to be linked to the genetic distance between the two parents used in hybrid development. Currently, heterotic gene pools need to be defined on University of Manitoba B. napus germplasm. Using phenotypic field data and genotype-by-sequencing (GBS) genotypic data, hierarchical clusters will be created that separate specific breeding lines into heterotic gene pools based on genetic distance. Once these gene pools have been assigned, putative high heterotic crosses that maximize genetic distance can be made and evaluated. These evaluations will measure a variety of agronomic traits including yield, maturity and lodging, as well as oil, protein, glucosinolate and fatty acid contents. Two years of phenotypic data will be presented along with GBS genotypic data to develop B. napus heterotic gene pools. Proposed high heterotic crosses will verify the accuracy of the developed heterotic gene pools and determine what level of genetic distance positively influences heterosis for multiple traits.