Nitrogen utilisation-efficient oilseed rape (Brassica napus) genotypes exhibit stronger growth attributes from flowering stage onwards
Xiao Guo
A B , Bao-Luo Ma B , Neil B. McLaughlin B , Xiaoming Wu C , Biyun Chen C and Yajun Gao A D E
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A College of Natural Resource and Environment, Northwest A and F University, 712100 Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
B Ottawa Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, K1A 0C6 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
C Institute of Oil Crop Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 430062 Wuhan, Hubei, China.
D Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and the Agri-environment in Northwest China, Ministry of Agriculture, 712100 Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
E Corresponding author. Email: yajungao@nwsuaf.edu.cn
Functional Plant Biology 48(8) 755-765 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP20263
Submitted: 26 August 2020 Accepted: 11 February 2021 Published: 15 March 2021
Journal Compilation © CSIRO 2021 Open Access CC BY-NC-ND © Crown Copyright of Canada and The Authors 2021
Abstract
Preliminary studies observed a lower growth activity during the vegetative stage with higher growth attributes at the pod-filling stage among the high nitrogen (N) utilisation efficiency (NUtE) oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) genotypes, compared with the low NUtE genotypes. Therefore, we hypothesised that there would exist a critical growth stage when distinctive phenotypic traits are exhibited to regulate yield formation and NUE. A field experiment and a hydroponic culture were conducted to characterise the differences in shoot and root physiological indicators of the high and low NUtE oilseed rape genotypes at seedling, bud, bolting, flowering and pod-filling stages. We found that flowering was the critical period when the reverse growth habit occurred between high and low NUtE genotypes. The high NUtE genotypes displayed larger values of root traits, stronger N uptake kinetics parameters, higher activity of leaf glutamine synthetase (GS) and glutamate synthetase (GOGAT), larger SPAD values and net photosynthetic rate, ultimately leading to higher seed yield and NUE. Our results indicate that flowering is the critical growth stage to distinguish the high from low NUtE oilseed rape genotypes, and plant breeders may focus on selecting root and shoot phenotypic traits from flowering stage onwards to achieve both high yields and NUE for oilseed rape genotypes.
Keywords: nitrogen utilisation efficiency, growth attributes, flowering stage, root function, Brassica napus L., oilseed rape.
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