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Abstract

The development of Chinese mustard (Brassica juncea) and canola (Brassica napus) cultivars with low erucic acid and glucosinolate content is a primary objective for plant breeders. This study aimed to identify genotypes with reduced levels of erucic acid and glucosinolates by evaluating 20 Brassica juncea and 30 Brassica napus accessions, for phenotypic traits; oil content, erucic acid percentage, and glucosinolate content. For the molecular analysis, DNA was extracted and amplified using four SSR markers: sS1702, Ra3E05, Na10C01, and sR7178. High polymorphism was observed reflecting substantial genetic diversity. Among these markers, Ra3E05 demonstrated the highest polymorphism with a PIC value of 0.861. The major allele frequency across the total 50 accessions ranged from 0.52 to 0.79. Notably, genotype BN-003 exhibited the highest major allele frequency of 0.79 but had the lowest PIC value of 0.2743, indicating least polymorphism and genetic diversity in this genotype. Principal Component Analysis was employed to explore the genotype-traits relationship, as well as to assess inter-trait correlations. The biplot revealed a negative correlation between glucosinolate content and erucic acid levels. Additionally, seed oil content showed a negative correlation with erucic acid and glucosinolates. Of all the 50 genotypes, BN-003 recorded least amount of erucic acid 0.05%, whereas, the genotypes “Super canola” and “BN-013” recorded lowest glucosinolates 24 μmol/g with high oil percentage 42.25% and 40.93% respectively. The identified genotypes, particularly Super canola and BN-013, are promising candidates for future breeding programs amid cultivar development contaning low erucic acid and glucosinolates content.

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