Inheritance of flowering time and 1000-seed weight in two rapeseed mutant lines

In the current context of climate change and recurrent drought, there is a need for productive and adapted rapeseed varieties. Recently, an early flowering mutant line ‘H2M-5’ and a mutant line with high 1000-seed weight ‘H2M-4’ have been developed. Hence, the mode of inheritance of these two mutated traits should be known to manage them properly in rapeseed breeding programs. In this study, genetic control of these traits in the respective mutant lines was investigated. To do that, ‘H2M-4’ and ‘H2M-5’ were used to construct F2 and BC1F1 populations and their reciprocals by crossing them with the wild-type variety ‘INRA-CZH2’. Based on the segregation observed in F2 and BC1F1 populations, it was suggested that 1000-seed weight in ‘H2M-4’ is controlled by two recessive genes and flowering time in ‘H2M-5’ is controlled by two recessive genes, both exhibiting additive effects. Thus, these attributes can be transferred easily and rapidly into rapeseed breeding lines or varieties to develop and release resilient cultivars for dry areas.