Inheritance of reduced linolenic acid content in the Ethiopian mustard mutant N2-4961

The zero erucic acid Ethiopian mustard lines developed so far are characterized by an exceptionally high linolenic acid content in the seed oil. The mutant line N2‐4961, expressing low linolenic acid content in a high erucic acid background, was developed through chemical mutagenesis. The objective of this research was to study the inheritance of low linolenic acid content in this mutant. Line N2‐4961 was reciprocally crossed with its parent line C‐101 and the linolenic acid content of the reciprocal F₁, F₂ and BC₁ generations was studied. No maternal, cytoplasmic or dominance effects were detected in the analysis of F₁ seeds and F₁ plants from reciprocal crosses. Linolenic acid content segregated in 1: 2: 1 ratios in all the F₂ populations studied, suggesting monogenic inheritance. This was confirmed with the analysis of the reciprocal backcross generation. The simple inheritance of low linolenic acid content in N2‐4961 will facilitate the transference of this trait to zero erucic acid lines of Ethiopian mustard.