FIELD-EVALUATION OF TRANSGENIC BRASSICA-NAPUS LINES CARRYING A SEED-SPECIFIC CHIMERIC 2S ALBUMIN GENE

The agronomic performance of transgenic Brassica napus lines carrying chimeric 2S albumin seed protein genes was studied under field conditi ons. A total of 37 transgenic lines were compared to non-transformed l ines. Plant development, morphological characteristics, yield paramete rs and seed composition were considered. Only a few transgenic lines d iffered from the control, and then only for particular parameters: fou r lines had altered leaf morphology, two differed in germination effic iency, one differed in yield, and three differed in some parameters of seed composition. These differences were not correlated with the pres ence or expression of the transgene and, thus, were more probably link ed to cell- or tissue-culture effects, or to residual variation presen t in cv. 'Drakkar'. A statistical interaction between variations in a limited number of seed composition parameters and cell haploid culture was observed. While the expression of the chimeric 2S albumin gene wa s not as high as hoped, this study demonstrates that transgenic lines can be isolated in which the intrinsic morphological and agronomic pro perties of the original lines are maintained.