Fig. 5

Evaluation of the phenotypic contribution of lignin to silique length. a–f Microstructure observation of the outer, middle and inner pericarp of the short and long silique. White arrows point to the outer pericarp, yellow arrows point to the middle pericarp, and red arrows point to the inner pericarp. a and d represent microscopic observations of short and long siliques at the T1 stage; b and e represent microscopic observations of short and long siliques at the T2 stage; c and f represent microscopic observations of short and long siliques at the T3 stage. Bar = 100 μm. g Determination of total lignin content in the silique wall of the short and long silique. h qRT–PCR verification of DEGs of key enzymes in the phenylpropanoid–lignin pathway in the short and long siliques at the T1, T2, and T3 stages. Statistically significant differences were revealed using a Student’s t test: ns ≥ 0.05, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001