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Beyond Oil: Molecular Breeding for Multifunctional Innovation in Oilseed Brassica

lssue 2, Volume 1
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Beyond Oil: Molecular Breeding for Multifunctional Innovation in Oilseed Brassica

Yingying Zhou 1 Iram Batool 1 Kangni Zhang 1 Ling Xu 2 Qian Huang 3 Fakhir Hannan 1 Yongqi Sun 1 Tongjun Qin 1 Wan Xu 4 Wu Qian 5 Ahsan Ayyaz 1,2,* Weijun Zhou 1,*

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1
Institute of Crop Science, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Crop Germplasm Innovation and Utilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
2
College of Life Sciences and Medicine, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China
3
Huzhou Agricultural Science Research Institute, Huzhou 313000, China
4
Zhejiang Institute of Subtropical Crops, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wenzhou 325005, China
5
Wenzhou Jiayou Seed Industry Co., Ltd., Wenzhou 325014, China
*
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Received: 10 March 2026 Revised: 07 April 2026 Accepted: 08 June 2026 Published: 12 June 2026

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© 2026 The authors. This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Biobreeding 2026, 1(2), 10008; DOI: 10.70322/biobreeding.2026.10008
ABSTRACT: Brassica napus L., one of the world’s most significant oilseeds, is experiencing a paradigm shift from a single-minded focus on edible oil production to a multifactorial approach centered on sustainable agriculture. This review synthesizes the progress in molecular breeding, which has enabled the development of multifunctional B. napus ideotypes. We discuss the genomic plasticity of the crop, based on the genomic mosaicism and allopolyploid origin, which provides a genetic reservoir basis of diversification. Contemporary approaches such as genomic selection, marker-assisted pyramiding, and multi-omics integration are considered in terms of their ability to maximize the properties of multifaceted trait networks, breaking historical trade-offs (e.g., yield vs. quality), and providing new value-added functions. Their success is evidenced by examples, including the development of ultra-high-oil cultivars and multi-colored ornamental varieties. We also describe emerging directions, such as engineering the root architecture of dual-purpose fodder and optimizing seed oil composition with single-cell omics. These molecular tools, combined with precision agriculture technologies, enable the realization of an integrated Agriculture-Processing-Tourism framework. B. napus can move beyond being a commodity and become a personalized crop, capable of fulfilling all three functions in bringing nutritional security, bio-economic diversification, and ecological resilience, and thus, the philosophy of the Grand Food Concept.
Keywords: Brassica napus; Molecular breeding; Multifunctional crop; Genomic selection; Sustainable agriculture
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