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Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) identified so far in Brassica were mainly generated in the final stage of plant development, which did not apply to the exploitation of genetic effects that were expressed during a specific developmental stage. Thus, the objective of this study was to simultaneously identify unconditional and conditional QTL associated with plant height at various stages of nonheading Chinese cabbage. One hundred twelve doubled haploid (DH) lines developed from the cross between nonheading Chinese cabbage lines ‘SW-13’ and ‘SU-124’ were used for QTL analysis of plant height by the composite interval mapping method combined with mixed genetic model. The map we used for QTL analysis was an updated version of the first genetic map of nonheading Chinese cabbage with 48 additional markers to the same DH population. With data from 2 years, a total of 11 unconditional QTLs in six linkage groups and 23 conditional QTLs in eight linkage groups were identified for plant height. The results indicated that the number and type of QTLs and their genetic effects for plant height were different in a series of measuring stages. Each QTL can explain 7.92% to 28.25% of the total phenotypic variation. Two QTLs (ph8-4 and ph8-5) were identified to be associated with plant height using both unconditional and conditional mapping methods simultaneously in 2 years. These results demonstrated that it is highly effective for mapping QTL of developmental traits using the unconditional and conditional analysis methodology.
Chinese cymbidiums are important flowering ornamental plants. Traditional propagation via seed or division cannot satisfy growers’ demand for commercialization of new cultivars, and in vitro propagation has a low micropropagation efficiency due to the browning of rhizomes. In this study, rhizomes of Cymbidium ‘14-16-13’ and ‘14-16-5’ were cultured on half-strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 6-benzyl aminopurine (BAP), NAA (α-napthaleneacetic acid), or BAP with NAA under either the dark or light. The degree of browning was read, and rhizome proliferation or sprouting (sprout numbers) was evaluated. Results showed that there was significant difference in browning grade of rhizomes between ‘14-16-13’ and ‘14-16-5’ regardless of dark and light culture. Dark culture induced rhizome proliferation but failed to induce sprouts. Light culture slightly elevated the degree of browning but induced sprouting. Among the growth regulators evaluated, BAP was more effective for sprout induction. As rhizome browning appeared to be inevitable in micropropagation of the cymbidiums, a compromise between browning and sprout production could be a realistic approach. Our study showed that rhizomes cultured on half-strength MS medium supplemented with 1.5 mg·L−1 BAP were able to produce more than 16 sprouts per vessel even though browning occurred in the rhizomes. Thus, culturing rhizomes in this medium could be a practical solution for in vitro propagation of Chinese cymbidiums.