Experiments were conducted to evaluate the nutritional value of meal derived from low glucosinolate cultivars of mustard (Brassica juncea) in comparison to samples of canola meal (Brassica napus, Brassica rapa). Samples of Brassica seed (four B. juncea, one B. napus, and one B. rapa) were processed using laboratory procedures to produce oil-extracted meals, which were examined for composition (...

Canola (Brassica napus L., Brassicaceae) research in Virginia began in the mid 1980s. A concerted and focused cooperative effort was initiated, with USDA-CSREES-National Canola Research Program funds, in 1993 by Virginia’s two Land Grant Universities: Virginia State University and Virginia Tech. A major goal of this effort, until recently, has been establishment of canola as a domestic source o...

Effect of Nitroxin Bio-Fertilizer Application Accompanied with Nitrogen on Canola (Brassica napus) Yield Quantity and Quality

Crucifer-feeding flea beetles, Phyllotreta spp., are chronic insect pests in Canadian prairie canola production. Multiple laboratory and field feeding bioassays were conducted to determine the susceptibility of a wide range of crucifer species, cultivars, and accessions to feeding by flea beetles with the goal of discovering sources of resistant germplasm. In 62 bioassays of 218 entries, no con...

Canola is an offspring of rapeseed (Brassica napus and Brassica campestris/rapa), which was bred through standard plant breeding techniques to have low levels of erucic acid and glucosinolates. Canola seed is rich in oil, and after oil extraction, the remaining “canola meal” (CM), is a rich protein source used as feedstock to different animal species, mainly dairy cows in North America and in E...

The Ogu cytoplasm for male sterility and its fertility restorer gene Rfo in canola (Brassica napus L.) were originally introgressed from radish (Raphanus sativus L.) and have been widely used for canola hybrid production and breeding. The objective of this study was to determine the physical location of the Rfo locus in the canola genome using fluorescence in situ hybridization and genetic mapp...

Field trials of transgenic crops may result in unintentional transgene flow to compatible crop, native, and weedy species. Hybridization outside crop fields may create novel forms with potential negative outcomes for wild and weedy plant populations. We report here the outcome of large outdoor mesocosm studies with canola (Brassica napus), transgenic canola, a sexually compatible weed B. rapa, ...

An open, continuous flow system was used to investigate ethylene production during degreening of maturing seed of mustard (Brassica juncea cv Cutlass and cv Lethbridge 22A) and canola (Brassica napus cv Westar and cv Alto). Isolated mustard seed evolved higher amounts of ethylene than those of canola, and this was particularly evident both early in embryogeny and later during the desiccation ph...

CYP84 is a recently identified family of cytochrome P450-dependent mono-oxygenases defined by a putative ferulate-5-hydroxylase (F5H) from Arabidopsis. Until recently F5H has been thought to catalyze the hydroxylation of ferulate to 5-OH ferulate en route to sinapic acid. Sinapine, a sinapate-derived ester in the seeds, is antinutritional and a target for elimination in canola meal. We have iso...

Yellow-seeded Brassica juncea is a novel canola species targeted to grow in the southern Canadian prairies where thermotolerance, disease resistance, and adaptation to dry agronomic conditions are required. The support of its cultivation needs nutritional evaluation of its coproduct. The B. juncea canola meal (CM) contains less fiber than conventional, dark-seeded Brassica napus CM but also sli...