'Plant Breeding: Sustaining the Future' Abstracts of the XVIth EUCARPIA Congress, Edinburgh, Scotland, 10-14 September 2001 DEVELOPING HIGH GLUCOSINOLATE BRASSICA CULTIVARS SUITABLE FOR BIO-FUMIGATION J. BROWN, J.B. DAVIS, D.A. ERICKSON, T. GOSSELIN, L. SEIP Plant, Soil and Entomological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, USA

Researchers have investigated pesticidal effects of Brassicaceae plants caused by allelochemicals from glucosinolate break-down.  However, either: (1) the amount of glucosinolate produced was too low, (2) the wrong type of glucosinolate breakdown product was produced, or (3) glucosinolate incorporation in the soil was not timely.  Hybrids between S. alba x B. napus, and winter B. rapa x B. nigra (resynthesized B. juncea) have been produced that show good winterhardiness, and very high concentrations of glucosinolate in leaf tissue, roots and seed meal.  Glucosinolate types of these “winter mustards” were highly effective in controlling soil pests. The volatile isothiocyanates produced as breakdown products of the primary glucosinolates of these hybrids (allyl, butenyl, p-hydroxybenzyl and 3-indolyimethyl) provide tremendous potential for biological soil fumigation without synthetic fumigants.