Impact of breeding over the years on Canadian Brassica napus canola

Significant improvements of Canadian Brassica napus canola have been made over the past decades through traditional plant breeding. The objective of this study was to evaluate the oilseed B. napus accessions from a gene bank and canola breeding programs of an industry (private) and the University of Alberta (UofA, public). The pedigree of the UofA accessions largely included exotic germplasms such as winter canola and rutabaga, while the pedigree of the industry and gene bank accessions was not known. A total of 282 accessions from these three sources were evaluated for 32 morphological, agronomic, and seed quality traits in four field trials in Alberta. Results indicate that breeding over time has improved canola for earliness of flowering, higher seed yield, oil content, sum of oil and protein contents, and reduced glucosinolate content. Among the three groups, the UofA accessions gave higher yield and had higher oil content. Of the UofA accessions, the third and fourth cycle breeding materials developed from crosses involving winter canola and rutabaga gave higher yield and had higher oil and sum of oil and protein contents than those from spring × spring crosses, as well as the accessions from industry. This superior performance implies the need for multiple cycles of breeding to develop improved canola lines when using exotic germplasm in crosses as well as highlights the need for a public‐private partnership for efficient utilization of exotic gene pools in breeding.