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Comparison of the crop species Brassica napus and wild B. rapa: characteristics relevant for building up a persistent seed bank in the soil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2013

Tom J. de Jong ,
Maria Tudela Isanta  and
Elze Hesse
Tom J. de Jong*
Affiliation:
Institute of Biology, Leiden University, PO Box 9505, 2300 RALeiden, The Netherlands
Maria Tudela Isanta
Affiliation:
Institute of Biology, Leiden University, PO Box 9505, 2300 RALeiden, The Netherlands
Elze Hesse
Affiliation:
Institute of Biology, Leiden University, PO Box 9505, 2300 RALeiden, The Netherlands
*
*Correspondence Fax: +31-71-5274900E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Can seed characters be used for predicting the presence of a persistent seed bank in the field? We address this question using ten cultivars of the crop Brassica napus, ten feral B. napus accessions originating from seeds collected in the field and nine accessions of the closely related ruderal species Brassica rapa. When buried for a year in the field, seeds of the wild B. rapa displayed, as expected, much higher survival fractions than those of domesticated B. napus at two different locations in The Netherlands. Compared to B. napus, B. rapa produces relatively small seeds with high levels of aliphatic glucosinolates and a thick seed coat. However, within each species none of these characters correlated with seed survival in the soil. At low temperatures, B. rapa seeds had lower and more variable germination fractions than those of B. napus; a small fraction (4.6%) of the B. rapa seeds showed primary dormancy. Rather surprisingly, B. napus displayed genetic differences in germination at low temperature, and germination fractions at 5°C correlated negatively with seed survival in the soil. Our comparisons between and within the two species suggest that foregoing germination at low temperatures is an important character for developing a persistent seed bank. We discuss our results in light of environmental risk assessment of genetically modified B. napus.

Keywords

Brassica napusBrassica rapadormancygenetic modificationgerminationtemperature
Type
Research paper
Information
Seed Science Research , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , September 2013 , pp. 169 - 179
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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