Controlling Supply Quality and Waste in Brassica vegetables: Understanding the genetics of maturity to breed varieties in response to climate change.

开花是植物适应的关键组成部分，影响地理分布和耕作方式的适宜性。它与产量、质量和环境因素高度相关，因为在适当的时间开花确保了可用生长季的最佳利用，促进了可持续性并减少了对投入的需要。Brassica属包括具有多种形态的物种，这些物种被栽培用作蔬菜、油、饲料和调味品，而这种形态多样性在很大程度上可以归因于花期的变化。二年生品种需要一段时间的冷处理(春化)来诱导开花。这种开花行为对于某些蔬菜的生产和适应某些农业实践是至关重要的，例如种植越冬花椰菜品种。一年生油菜品种不需要冷处理才能开花，尽管一些一年生油菜可以通过更早和更均匀地开花来对春化做出反应。不同品种对春化的反应对它们何时成熟和如何成熟有很大影响。许多蔬菜是在开花前的营养阶段收获和食用的。能否准确预测营养生长期的时间和长度对作物的品质和商业收益有很大的影响。对于其他蔬菜来说，关键是花期转换的时机。在这个项目中，我们将识别对春化过程起或多或少控制作用的基因，目的是利用这些信息来产生具有更可预测的收获期的亲本品系和杂交后代。我们将把这些基因座的变异与在当前和历史天气模式下的表现联系起来，以将特定的等位基因组合与不同气候条件下的成熟度联系起来。了解关键的Brassica春化基因及其在不同蔬菜Brassica中的差异将使我们能够解决有关气候模式对英国生产的优质Brassica蔬菜供应的影响的关键问题。

Flowering is a key component of plant adaptation, affecting geographical distribution and suitability for farming practices. It is highly relevant to yield, quality and environmental considerations as flowering at the appropriate time ensures best use of the available growing season, promoting sustainability and reducing the need for inputs. The genus Brassica includes species with many morphological forms that are cultivated for use as vegetables, oils, fodder and condiments, and much of this morphological diversity can be attributed to variation in flowering time. Biennial cultivars require a period of cold treatment (vernalization) to induce flowering. This flowering behaviour is critical for the production of some vegetable forms and for adaptation to certain agricultural practices, such as planting of overwintering cauliflower varieties. Annual Brassica cultivars do not require cold treatment to flower, although some annuals can respond to vernalization by flowering earlier and more uniformly. How different varieties respond to vernalization has a big effect on when and how they mature. Many vegetables are harvested and eaten at the vegetative stage, prior to flowering. Successfully predicting the timing and length of the vegetative phase has a big influence on the quality and commercial return from the crop. For other vegetables it is the timing of the floral transition that is critical. In this project we will identify genes which can exert greater or lesser control on the vernalization process with the aim of using this information to produce parent lines and hybrids which have a more predictable harvest period. We will relate variation at these loci to performance under present and historical weather patterns to associate specific allelic combinations with maturity under different climatic conditions. Knowledge of key Brassica vernalization genes and how they vary in different vegetable Brassicas will allow us to address key questions about the impact of climate patterns on the availability of UK-produced quality Brassica vegetables.