The bilateral influence of plant and rhizosphere characteristics in brassicas varying in seed oil productivity

Abstract

Vessey, J. K., Fei, H., Burton, D. L., Bradley, R. L. and Smith, D. L. 2014. The bilateral influence of plant and rhizosphere characteristics in brassicas varying in seed oil productivity. Can. J. Plant Sci. 94: 1113–1116. It is important that increasing seed oil yield in species of Brassica to improve the crops as biodiesel feedstocks does not result in unforeseen increases in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Studies were conducted to determine if genotypes of Brassica napus and Arabidopsis thaliana varying in seed oil content (SOC) potential had differences in plant and rhizospheric characteristics that could impact GHG emissions. Varying SOC productivity in B. napus resulted in changes in C and N partitioning within the plant, and in some cases had effects on N2O emission in the field. Although changes were observed in the composition of the rhizosphere of A. thaliana with modified SOC, there was also evidence that rhizospheric bacteria-to-plant signals could be used to improve growth and stress resistance in the plants. Project 4c in the Green Crop Network (GCN) investigated the possible ramifications of varying SOC on various plant growth, rhizospheric and agronomic characteristic of Brassica napus L. and Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. The influence of certain bacteria-to-plant signals (i.e., lipo-chitooligosaccharides) was also investigated in these species. The rationale for these investigations was based on the fact that very little is known about how changing seed oil productivity in brassicas might affect other plants processes (e.g., C and N partitioning, root exudations, rhizospheric conditions) that might affect GHG emission from biodiesel feedstock crops designed specifically for maximized SOC.