Euphytica (2008) 164:325–337 DOI 10.1007/s10681-008-9660-2 123 “Aberrant” plants in cauliXower: 1. Phenotype and heredity Véronique Chable · Alain Rival · Valérie Cadot · François Boulineau · Armel Salmon · Henri Bellis · Maria J. Manzanares-Dauleux Received: 24 October 2007 / Accepted: 4 February 2008 / Published online: 9 March 2008  Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008 AbstractFor more than a decade, the number of “aberrant plants”showing variousdevelopmental abnormalities in cultivated cauli Xowers has dramati- cally increased, thus hampering the registration of new varieties in some cases. The aberrant phenotype occurred during the cultivation period and in any vari- ety type (pure line or F1 hybrid). The number of aber- rant plants increased considerably from 1994 onwards. The rate of aberrant plants observed among F1 hybrids in the Weld was found to vary according to genotype and cultivation area. Besides morphological changes, aberrant phenotypes showed various patterns of evolu- tion, i.e. stable, evolving toward another phenotype or reversing toward normality. Vegetative and seed prog- enies were obtained in order to investigate the genetic control of these phenotypic variations. Given that the aberrant phenotypes can evolve towards either nor- mality or another abnormality during the life cycle of the plant and that the aberration capacity and/or the “acquired morphological disorder” can be transmitted to the progeny, an epigenetic hypothesis has been proposed for the determinism of this phenomenon. KeywordsBrassica oleracea var. botrytis · Abnormal phenotype · Epigenetic · Plant disease · CauliXower breeding Introduction The occurrence of aberrant cauli Xower plants in the Weld is a recent phenomenon. We use the term “aber- rant plant” to describe speci Wc oV-type plants show- ing abnormal and monstrous phenotypes which are common to all the cultivated varieties of cauli Xower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.). The origin of these phenotypes could not be explained either by genetic segregation, pollination errors or even acci- dental pollution from other progenies. There is no report on the presence of such oV-type plants in culti- vated cauliXower varieties in the literature. North and Squibbs (1952) described “oV-types” plants in cauli- Xower seed stocks; however each type was found to be speciWc to one seeds-man’s stocks and the observed phenotypic diversity could therefore be attributed to genetic variation. Wellington (1955) V. Chable (&) INRA SAD-Paysage, CS 84215, 65, rue de Saint-Brieuc, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France e-mail: chable@rennes.inra.fr V. Chable · A. Salmon · H. Bellis · M. J. Manzanares-Dauleux UMR118 INRA-Agrocampus Rennes-Université Rennes1, INRA Amélioration des Plantes et Biotechnologies Végétales, BP 35327, 35653 Le Rheu, France A. Rival UMR DIAPC, CIRAD, BP 64501, 34394 Montpellier Cedex 5, France V. Cadot · F. Boulineau GEVES, Domaine de la Boisselière, 49 250 Brion, France