Tag Archives: QTL

A new resource for plant research

Important news: as of 2024 this popultation is available from the USDA Plant Germplasm Research Unit.  It can be ordered under a single Plant Introduction number, PI 700926.

Here is the link:  https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=2138964

This accessibility makes this the most easily used mapping population for research program with limited capacity to do the breeding and seed increase usually required. You only need to phenotype for your trait.

The information about the population on the GRIN database included phenotype information for about 5000 traits. That is valuable for correlating your trait of interest with the overall variation in brassicas.

January 19,2025


The plant research community has a valuable and practical new resource available: a rapid-cycling Brassica oleracea population that can be used to map the genetics of many traits simply by phenotyping. The population and related resources are described in a recent publication led by Zach Stansell in Thomas Björkman’s lab at Cornell University.

  • The map and reference genome are complete
  • Bioinformatic-analysis pipeline is available
  • Seed is available for free
  • Researchers only need to phenotype and analyze


The BolTBDH population is derived from a from a cross of rapid-cycling Chinese kale with broccoli. It is particularly valuable for studying reproductive development because progeny lines have inflorescences that range from non-heading to fully heading broccoli. Variation is documented for many other traits, such as architecture and glucosinolate content, and variation in many others remains to be explored and documented.

To1000 is a small plant with long inflorescences, Early Big is a normal broccoli
Parents of BolTBDH: the rapid-cycling Chinese kale, TO1000 and the broccoli ‘Early Big’.

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