Canonical correlation analysis of agronomic characters of Brassica juncea in Western China

[Objective] The study aimed at exploring the relationship among the agronomic characters of B. juncea in western China, in order to provide scientific basis for the breeding of B. juncea in western China. [Method] 39 B. juncea materials from western China were used for the canonical correlation analysis, and canonical correlations between each pair of the four ecological character (containing 18 variables) were verified, including yield characters (5 variables), caulis characters (6 variables), branch characters (3 variables) and pod characters (3 variables). [Result] Yield per plant of B. juncea in western China suffered a tremendous influence from effective pod number per plant while was not significantly affected by the total pod number per plant, seed number per pod and 1000-seed weight; the most important character related with the yield character of B. juncea in western China was caulis character, followed by the branch character and pod character; yield characters, caulis characters, branch characters and pod characters of B. juncea in western China were closely correlated. [Conclusion] In order to improve the yield characters of B. juncea in western China, caulis characters should be focused on, followed by branch characters and pod characters; rapeseed varieties with high performance in total pod number per plant and effective pod number per plant should be chosen through the perspectives of effective branch number, plant height, pod number of main inflorescence, fruit stalk number of main inflorescence and other traits, while rapeseed varieties with high performance in seed number per pod and 1000-seed weight should be chosen through the perspectives of beak length and other traits.