Content of p‐Hydroxybenzylglucosinolate in seed meals of Sinapis alba as affected by heredity, environment and seed part

Abstract Seed meals of different cultivars and breeding lines of white mustard (Sinapis alba) grown at different localities and in different years were analysed for content of p‐hydroxybenzylglucosinolate. The environmentally determined variation generally amounted to ± 12%. Cultivar differences were not significant in the material available but a much larger variation was found among individual plants. A statistical treatment of parent plant material and corresponding progenies gave a correlation coefficient of + 0·68 and a highly significant t2 value. This indicates that the glucosinolate content of white mustard seed is mainly genetically determined. Analysis of samples from field experiments with fertilisers containing different amounts of sulphate revealed that the glucosinolate content was not influenced by a reduction in the amount of sulphate applied to heavy soils. The content of glucosinolate, while similar in cotyledons and hypocotyls, was, however, much lower in the seed coat.