Ott, Matthew2023-02-162023-02-162022-12https://hdl.handle.net/11299/252521University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. December 2022. Major: Applied Plant Sciences. Advisors: M. David Marks, Donald Wyse. 1 computer file (PDF); vii, 150 pages.Camelina (Camelina sativa L. Crantz) and pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) are being developed as a winter annual oilseed cover crops for the Upper Midwest to aid in overcoming global food security and ecological challenges. Chapter one of this dissertation introduces readers to these winter annual species and reviews relevant published literature. Early maturity is a crucial trait for these cover crops to improve their fit into crop rotations with summer annual crops. A camelina line with early maturity was characterized on an agronomic and genetic level in chapter two. This research led to an increased genetic understanding of flowering time in general for camelina as well as an optimized KASP marker for genotyping growth habit, also included in chapter two. Unlike camelina which has a long history of human cultivation, pennycress has only recently been undergoing domestication. One of the key domestication traits needed in pennycress is reduced seed dormancy, and a line of pennycress with this trait was characterized in field and controlled experiments in chapter three. To improve the economic and ecological potential of pennycress, an agronomic optimum nitrogen rate (AONR) and economic optimum nitrogen rate (EONR) are needed. An AONR and EONR for pennycress were also identified in field experiments in Minnesota described in chapter four.enThesis or Dissertation