Abstract
Mustard (Brassica napus) belongs to the Brassiacaceae family and is the major edible oil producing crop of Bangladesh. The country spent a huge amount of foreign currency to import edible oil, which could be minimized through enhancing and improving the existing germplasms. To do this, the genetic variability and diversity of the existing germplasm should be evaluated. Thirty-five genotypes of mustard were evaluated based on randomized complete block design with three replications. The genotypes were found significantly variable for most of the characters. Comparatively phenotypic variances were higher than the genotypic variances for most of the characters studied. The high GCV value was observed for number of seed yield per plant. Seed yield per plant exhibited the highest value of heritability followed by number of siliquae per plant while plant height exhibited the lowest value of heritability. The significant positive correlation with seed yield per plant were found in number of primary branches, siliquae length, number of seed per plant, number of seed per siliquae and thousand seed weight. Path co-efficient analysis revealed that days to maturity, plant height, number of primary branch, siliquae length, number of siliqua per plant, number of seed per siliqua, and thousand seed weight, had direct positive effect on yield per plant. Whereas, days to 50% flowering, length of main raceme and number of secondary branch, had direct negative effect on yield per plant. The genotypes were classified in four clusters. The genotypes of cluster IV showed better mean performance while cluster III showed lower mean performance for important component traits including yield per plant. Considering distance and agronomic performance genotypes G23, G5, G22 and G24 might be recommended for future hybridization program.
Highlights
Mustard (Brassica napus) belongs to the genus Brassica of the family Brassiacaceae, is mainly a self-pollinating crop, on an average 7.5 to 30% out-crossing does occur under natural field conditions [1;2]
The results indicate the presence of high genetic variability for these traits
The high heritability was observed for number of primary branches per plant, number of secondary branches per plant, siliqua length, and number of siliqua per plant, number of seeds per silique, 1000-seed weight and seed yield per plant
Summary
Mustard (Brassica napus) belongs to the genus Brassica of the family Brassiacaceae (former Crucifereae), is mainly a self-pollinating crop, on an average 7.5 to 30% out-crossing does occur under natural field conditions [1;2]. B. campestris and B. juncea are the three species of mustard those produce edible oil. Variety plays an important role in producing high yield of mustard because different varieties varied differently for their genotypic characters. Development of an effective breeding program depends on the existence of genetic variability for various economic characters in the gene pool. An understanding of precise magnitude of variability present in a population is important in formulating the most appropriate breeding technique for improvement of various characters. There must be a thorough knowledge of the existence of genetic variability, the mode of inheritance of economic characters, heritability, the kind of gene action and the relative magnitude of additive, dominance and total genotypic and phenotypic variances of the population. In the context of the above mentioned situation, the present piece of work was undertaken to select elite genotypes to utilize as parents for future hybridization programs
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