Doubled haploids as a material for biotechnological manipulation and as a modern tool for breeding oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.)

Haploids and doubled haploids (DHs) have been produced in Brassica ssp. using anther or isolated microspore cultures. Since 1982, when Lichter developed a method of isolated microspores culture, this technique has been constantly improved and modified. Haploids and DH of Brassica napus have been extensively used in genetic studies, such as gene mapping, location of quantitative trait locus, marker / trait association studies, and genomics. Furthermore, the oilseed rape haploid induction technique can nowadays be efficiently combined with several other plant biotechnological techniques, enabling several novel breeding achievements, such as mutation breeding, the breeding of hybrid varieties, genetic transformation, and resynthesis of B. napus . The development and improvement of in vitro androgenesis of oilseed rape allowed DH populations to be obtained on a large scale. Today DH lines are used in the genetic analysis of quantitative traits and to analyze the impact of the environment on the yield and quality of the seeds. Currently, DH technology has become more efficient and hence can be widely applied in winter oilseed rape breeding. Additionally, DH technology is used to shorten the process of breeding new varieties. An open pollinated B. napus cv. Monolit (Plant Breeding Strzelce Ltd., Co.) is the first Polish winter oilseed rape variety obtained using DH technology. The breeding cycle of this variety is about four years shorter compared to a classical breeding program. The second Polish cultivar obtained using DH technology, cv. Brendy (Plant Breeding Smolice Ltd., Co.) was developed in a similarly short period. In the breeding of new oilseed rape hybrid varieties, homozygous restorer lines are also exploited. Our basic research used oilseed rape DH technology with a focus on improving the qualitative traits of oilseed rape and is presented here, based on the major researches conducted worldwide as well as on the results obtained at the Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute – National Research Institute in Poznań.