NAPUS 2000. Rapeseed (Brassica napus) breeding for improved human nutrition

Following a competition announcement of the Federal Ministry of Research and Education (BMBF) a project dealing with the improvement of the nutritional value of oilseed rape (Brassica napus) for human food applications was worked out and started in autumn 1999. Seventeen partners from different working areas are carrying out a complex project reaching from the discovery, characterisation, isolation and transfer of genes of interest up to breeding of well performing varieties combined with important agronomic traits. Economic studies and processing trials as well as nutritional investigations of the new qualities are carried out. B. napus seed quality aspects with respect to seed coat colour, oil composition, lecithin and protein fractions and antioxidants like tocopherols and resveratrol will be improved. The first results indicate that it is possible to select suitable plant material with certain seed compositions for an efficient implementation of genetic transformation. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.