Genetic Diversity and Yield Component Analysis in Indian Mustard [Brassica juncea (L.) Czern. and Coss.

Abstract

Background: Researchers in Indian mustard have made minimal progress in breaking the yield barrier due to limited genetic resources. To increase productivity, a combination of molecular markers and morphological features is advised to boost productivity. The purpose of current work is to characterise polymorphic SSR markers, determine genotype variability, identify suitable parents for hybridization and understand key yield factors. Methods: In 2020-21, twenty-eight Indian mustard varieties and advance breeding materials were evaluated at Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute’s experimental field in Narendrapur, West Bengal, using statistical techniques to assess genetic estimates and molecular diversity using twenty identified polymorphic SSR primers out of thirty tested primers. Result: The study found that the number of siliqua per plant and primary and secondary branches are crucial yield components determined by correlation and path analysis. The high heritability of ten traits was observed. Genotypes were divided into four clusters with both Mahalanobis’s D2 and molecular diversity analysis, with 1000 seed weight and plant height showing the highest degree of divergence. But the composition of genotypes varied in two types of clusters. Ra1F09 and Ra2B02, SSR markers, showed greater PIC values and heterozygosity among the twenty polymorphic SSR primers. Hybridization between PM25 and high oil content genotypes from cluster I, such as Sanjukta Asech and Kranti, is proposed to produce segregants with high yield, oil content and early maturity.