Genome-wide Association Study and Genomic Prediction for Pod Shatter Resistance in Brassica napus L.

Abstract

The release of seeds from a mature dry pod is known as shattering. Pod shattering results in significant yield losses in rapeseed/canola. An experiment was conducted in five environments in 2020 and 2021 under the field and the greenhouse conditions using 150 spring-type Brassica napus genotypes. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified 21 significant SNPs for pod shattering using eight different GWAS models. The phenotypic variation explained by these SNPs ranged from 3.8 -25.4%. Three potential candidate genes, IND, AGL65, and MAN7, were identified for the pod shattering. Genomic prediction was done using 14 genomic selection models. The prediction ability for pod shatter resistance ranged from 0.18 – 0.50. This study suggested that at least one locus on chromosome A09 is associated with pod shattering. The study also suggests that genomic selection has the potential to select pod shatter resistance germplasm at an early stage to use in the breeding program.