Environmental variability and heritability of high oleic acid content in winter oilseed rape

Winter oilseed rape, with high oleic (HO) acid contents (C18 : 1) is of interest for nutritional as well as for industrial purposes. HO mutants have been described, but only limited information is available on any environmental influence on the expression of oleic acid content in these mutants. Therefore, a population of 60 doubled-haploid (DH) lines segregating for oleic acid content (56-75% C18 : 1) was grown in two years at three locations in northern Germany. Analysis of variance revealed a high heritability for oleic acid content of h(2) = 0.99. Subdivid ing the DH population into a high (> 64% C18 : 1) and a low ( < 64% C18 : 1) oleic acid class showed high heritabilities (h(2) = 0.94) for C18 : 1 contents within both the high and low oleic acid types. The oleic acid contents in HO types of winter oilseed rape were environmentally stable at the three locations tested.