How to advance up to seven generations of canola (Brassica napus L.) per annum for the production of pure line populations?

One of the critical factors restricting the progress in crop breeding and genetic studies is the time required in generating desired 'pure line' segregating populations. We developed a procedure that can advance up to seven generations of canola per annum, allowing the production of pure line populations within a year. An 'all soil' method was compared with an 'embryo culture plus soil' procedure. Treatment of keeping only a single pod per plant was compared with that of keeping many pods per plant. Five generations per annum were achieved using the 'all soil' method, when plants were under conditions of high temperature, water stress, long lighting hours and natural seed maturation. Seven generations per annum were achieved using the 'embryo culture plus soil' procedure keeping a single pod per plant. This fast generation procedure is being used in producing recombinant inbreeding lines and near isogenic lines in our research programme and its wider adoption could facilitate canola breeding and other biological studies.