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Dissecting the genetic architecture of agronomic traits in multiple segregating populations in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.)

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Abstract

Detection of QTL in multiple segregating populations is of high interest as it includes more alleles than mapping in a single biparental population. In addition, such populations are routinely generated in applied plant breeding programs and can thus be used to identify QTL which are of direct relevance for a marker-assisted improvement of elite germplasm. Multiple-line cross QTL mapping and joint linkage association mapping were used for QTL detection. We empirically compared these two different biometrical approaches with regard to QTL detection for important agronomic traits in nine segregating populations of elite rapeseed lines. The plants were intensively phenotyped in multi-location field trials and genotyped with 253 SNP markers. Both approaches detected several additive QTL for diverse traits, including flowering time, plant height, protein content, oil content, glucosinolate content, and grain yield. In addition, we identified one epistatic QTL for flowering time. Consequently, both approaches appear suited for QTL detection in multiple segregating populations.

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Acknowledgments

This research was conducted within the Biometric and Bioinformatic Tools for Genomics based Plant Breeding project of the GABI—FUTURE initiative.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Plant Breeding Institute, University of Hohenheim, 70599, Stuttgart, Germany

    Tobias Würschum, Wenxin Liu, Hans Peter Maurer & Jochen C. Reif

  2. Crop Genetics and Breeding Department, China Agricultural University, 100193, Beijing, China

    Wenxin Liu

  3. Limagrain GmbH, 31226, Peine-Rosenthal, Germany

    Stefan Abel

Authors
  1. Tobias Würschum
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  2. Wenxin Liu
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  3. Hans Peter Maurer
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  4. Stefan Abel
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  5. Jochen C. Reif
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tobias Würschum.

Additional information

Communicated by C. Quiros.

T. Würschum and W. Liu contributed equally to this work.

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Würschum, T., Liu, W., Maurer, H.P. et al. Dissecting the genetic architecture of agronomic traits in multiple segregating populations in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.). Theor Appl Genet 124, 153–161 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-011-1694-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-011-1694-5

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