Quantitive determination of the strength of rapeseed pod dehiscence

Rapseseed pods are easy to shatter which causes yield loss during harvest, and the fragile pod of rapeseed is not suitable for mechanical harvest. Quantitive determination of the strength of rapseed pod dehiscence is necessary for studying the mechanism of rapeseed pod shattering and breeding the shattering tolerance rapeseed vareities. A "ripping" method was developed to quantitively determine the pod dehiscence strength. To conduct the comparison of defferent tests, six pods per variety were balanced in a chamber at temperature of 25℃ and huminity of 50% for two weeks, then the pods were encylcled with metalic thread at 2.5 cm to the pod base and sticked to a plate. Making the plate immobile, and moving the probe up to rip the pod, the maximal force that probe monitored was the pod dehiscence strength. Results of 47 varieties tests show that the pod dehiscence strength among B. napus varied greatly, so selecting the shattering tolerance rapeseed among B. napus for mechanical harvest was feasible. The "ripping" method for quantitive determination of the pod dehiscence strength has a potential value in rapeseed breeding and biological research.