AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTRE

www.arccjournals.comAgric. Sci. Digest., 34 (3) : 183 - 188, 2014

doi:10.5958/0976-0547.2014.00998.7

GENETIC VARIABILITY AND CHARACTER ASSOCIATION IN INDIANMUSTARD [BRASSICA JUNCEA (L) CZERNS & COSS]

Devmani Bind* , Dhirendra Singh and V.K. Dwivedi

Department of Genetics and Plant BreedingJanta Vedic College Baraut, Baghpat-2506111, India

Received: 05-04-2013 Accepted: 07-08-2013

ABSTRACT Genetic variability, interrelationship and genetic divergence in thirty indigenous collections of

Indian mustard was studied in order to identify desirable genotypes on per seperformance and toselect promising donors to be used in breeding programme during rabi 2005-2006. Data were recordedon fourteen different quantitative characters.Significant differences were observed for all the traitsamong the genotypes. Genetic variability was found maximum for biological yield per plant andminimum for days to maturity as reflected by genotypic coefficient of variation. Heritability estimatein broad sense were high for 1000 seed weight, day to maturity, day to flowering, plant height andmain shoot length. Genetic advance as percent over mean was high for biological yield per plant,1000 seed weight, yield per plant, umber. Of secondary branches and main shoot length. All thecharacters showed positive correlation with seed yield per plant both at phenotypic and genotypiclevels except days to 50% flowering and days to maturity. The path coefficient analysis at genotypiclevel revealed that biological yield per plant had the highest direct positive effect on seed yield perplant followed by harvest index, 1000seed weight, no of seeds per siliqua and no. of primary branches.Highest negative direct effect on seed yield per plant was observed for plant height at phenotypiclevel.

Key Words: Brassica Juncea, GCV and PCV, Genetic variability, Mustard.

INTRODUCTIONIndian mustard [Brassica juncea(L .)

Czern&Coss] is an important rabi oil seed crop ofIndia. Brassica is the world’s second important oilseed. Because of its ability to germinate and growat low temperature the oil seed Brassica can begrown in the colder agricultural regions at higherelevations as well as winter crops in the temperatezones. Brassica family Brassicaceae, rapeseed andmustard are mostly grown for oil. Edible oil is one ofthe most important products of various species ofBrassica. The meal cake after extraction of the oilfrom the seed contains 40-45 per cent protein whichcould be exploited as raw material for themanufacture of protein rich products intended forboth animal and human consumption.

In rapeseed-mustard group, rapeseed iscomprised of three ecotypes of Brassica

junceacampestris i.e. yellow sarson, brown sarsonand toria. Mustard (Brassicajuncea) commonlyknown asrai, raya and lahaetc. is predominantly(85-90%) grown as oilseed crop in most parts ofthe country.In India, rapeseed-mustard cropsaccounted for 29.1 percent of the total oilseedsproduction and 26.1 percent of the total oilseedarea during 2005-06. Globally, India accounts for26.5 percent and 16.6 percent of the total hectarageand production of rapeseed-mustard, respectively(Anonymous 2007). Because of shortage of oilseedin the country, India is importing oil from differentparts of the world. The major objective of the presentday breeding programmes therefore, should be higherproductivity and greater yield stability. SinceBrassica crop in general gives lower yields thancereals, it has lead people to believe that Brassicacrop may have a lower genetic potential. The

*Corresponding Author’s e-mail: devmani.bind@gmail.com and Address: Indian Agricultural Research Institute,New Delhi 110012.

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available evidence, however, indicated that theBrassica crop has a high or even higher geneticpotential for yield as compared to cereals (Jain,1975).

In Brassica genetic diversity is the basicrequirement for its further genetic improvement.Variation not only provides a basis for selection butalso some valuable information regarding selectionof diverse parents to be used in hybridizationprogramme. Breeding for high seed yield and othereconomic characters is a very important objectivein any crop improvement programme. Yield is acomplex character dependent on a number of othercharacters. Improvement for yield thus depends onthe magnitude of genetic variability of differentquantitative characters. Hence measurement,evaluation and manipulation of genetic variabilityfor yield is needed for overall yield improvement.This study thus focuses on studying genetic variationfor different component traits and their associationsfor enhancing the plant yield.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe experiment for the present investigation

consisted of 30 germplasm of Indian mustard[Brassica juncea (L.) Czern&Coss] which werecollected from NBPGR New Delhi. The material wasgrown in(RBD) randomized block design with 3replications, during 2005-2006. The trial wasconducted at the Oilseed Research farm ofJantaVedic College Baraut, Baghpat (UP).The length ofthe rows was kept 2.5 meter with a spacing 45cmbetween the rows and 15cm between the plants.Allthe cultural practices were followed to raise a goodcrop.

Five competitive plants were randomlyselected from each entry in each replication and weretagged for recording detailed field and laboratoryobservations. Data were recorded on these randomlyselected plant on the following characters:days to50percent flowering, days to maturity, plantheight(cm), number of primary branches per plant,number of secondary branches per plant, main shootheight (cm), number of siliqua on main shoot, lengthof siliqua (cm), number of seed per siliqua,seed yieldper plant(g), biological yield per plant(g), harvestindex(%), 1000seed weight(g) andoil content(%).Heritability in broad sense and genetic advanceas a per cent of mean were calculated as per Allard

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TABLE 2: Estimate of mean range genotypic & phenotypic coefficient of variation, heratibility and genetic advance forfourteen characters in thirty genotypes of Indian mustard.

Characters Mean Range GCV PCV Heritability Genetic PercentageAdvance Genetic

Advanceover mean

Days to 50 % flowering 58.89 50.67-67.34 8.62 9.43 83.50 9.55 16.22Days to maturity 134.39 129.33-142.67 2.51 2.68 88.00 6.53 4.86Plant height (cm) 148.70 119.67-190.67 10.35 11.91 75.50 27.56 18.53No. of Primary branches/pl 5.96 4.70-7.90 13.62 17.06 63.80 1.34 22.48No. of sec. Branches/plant 14.62 6.30-24.62 28.34 34.21 67.40 7.01 47.95Main shoot height (cm) 56.93 46.67-78.00 18.46 21.36 74.70 18.71 32.71No. of siliq. on main shoot 43.89 34.41-56.07 9.10 12.25 35.60 4.91 11.19Length of siliqua (cm) 4.46 3.41-5.83 11.26 14.15 63.40 0.82 18.39No. of seeds/siliqua 12.69 10.17-14.93 6.52 10.74 36.90 1.04 8.20Seed yield/plant (g) 15.72 6.43-27.04 29.13 40.54 51.60 6.78 42.72Biological yield/plant (g) 54.25 21.27-92.17 32.32 38.11 71.90 30.64 55.76Harvest index (%) 29.78 20.37-44.11 11.11 27.16 16.70 2.79 9.371000-seed weight (g) 4.88 2.83-6.12 21.62 22.79 90.00 2.06 42.21Oil content (%) 41.67 38.33-44.13 2.73 3.45 62.80 1.86 4.46

(1960). Various genetic parameters were estimatedas per standard procedure. Correlation coefficient(Johnson et al. 1955) and path coefficients (Deweyand Lu,1959) were also calculated.

RESULT AND DISCUSSIONAnalysis of variance revealed significant

differences among the genotypes for all thecharacters, indicating presence of wide spectrum ofvariability (Table no.1).Estimates of genotypic andphenotypic coefficient of variation showed similartrend for the respective traits (Table 2).

Maximum and minimum differencesbetween GCV and PCV were observed for days tomaturity and number of primary branches indicatingthe influence of environment for these traits,respectively. GCV along with heritability estimategave the precise picture of genetic gain to be exploitedthrough select ion as suggested by Burton(1952).High values of GCV coupled with heritabilitywere observed for length of main shoot, seed yieldand day to maturity (Table 2) suggesting that additivegene action might play major role in the expressionof these characters and selection would be rewardingin further improvement of these characters. Highvalue of heritability and moderate genetic advancefor days to 50% lowering indicated that improvementin this trait could be done through selection to someextent. In rest of the characters improvement is notpossible through selection.This may be due to non-

additive gene action which matched with the findingof Prasad et al.(2001),Swarnker et al.(2002)andSingh et al.(2002).

Correlation coefficient analysis (Table no. 3),revealed that seed yield had significant positiveassociation with days to 50% flowering, days tomaturity,plant height, length of shoot,number ofsiliquae on main shoot and 1000-seed weight atgenotypic and phenotypic levels. Seed yield alsoexhibited positive and significant correlation withoil content at genotypic and phenotypic level. Seedyield per plant had positive and significantcorrelation with days to 50% flowering, days tomaturity, plant height, length of main shoot andnumber of siliquae on main shoot, indicating thatthese are the major yield attributing traits. Selectionwould be helpful in simultaneous improvement inthese traits for yield improvement of Indian mustard.Rest of the characters with significant correlationcould be improved independently without affectingothers. It is clear from the association that whenmaturity duration increases number of primarybranches, plant height and length of main shootwould also increase possessing higher number ofsiliqae with bolder and more seeds per plant resultingin higher yield.

Path coefficient analysis (Table no. 4)revealed that number of siliquae on main shoot hadmaximum direct effect on seed yield at genotypic

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level. This is also supported by the fact that indirecteffects of days to 50%flowering, days to maturity,plant height, number of siliquae on main shoot,length of main shoot, 1000-seed weight and percentoil content.These traits were found highly significantat genotypic level. 1000-seed weight was secondbest in its direct effect due to indirect effects ofnumber of siliquae on main shoot, number ofsecondary branches, plant height and oil content.Traits such as days to maturity, number of primarybranches and length of main shoot had negativedirect effects on seed yield. Considering the resultsof path analysis it can be inferred that 1000-seedweight, number of siliquae on main shoot, plantheight, number of secondary branches and oilcontent directly increase the seed yield of Indianmustard. At phenotypic level seed yield per plant was

found positive and having high significant correlationfor days to 50%flowering, days to maturity, plantheight, length of main shoot, number of siliqae onmain shoot. Similar finding were reported earlier bySingh et al.(2003), Singh et al.(2003) and Singh etal.(2009).

The genotypes identified on the basis ofvariability for different traits can be further utilizedin breeding programs for improvement of Indianbrassica. Similarly the inferences drawn in presentstudy may be utilized in other brassica populations.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors are highty thankful to Dr. Y.S.Tomar, (Principal) Janta Vedic College Baraut,Baghpat (UP), for his co- operation during the fieldand laboratory work, for providing all thefacilities,encouragement and help in different ways.

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