Diversity for fatty acid composition of advanced breeding lines of Indian mustard [Brassica juncea (L.) Czern and Coss]

Abstract

In general the yield performance or resistance against important pests or both are considered for the submission of any advanced breeding line into the All India Coordinated Research Project on Rapeseed- Mustard (AICRP-RM) and for its further release as new variety or as registered donor for a particular trait. But recently it is being felt that such Indian mustard varieties should be developed with output traits which are better suited for oil quality. Oil quality is one of the most important criterion for the release of any breeding line as new variety because, oil quality affects the use of its oil for edible purposes as certain antinutritional factors present in oil like high erucic acid causes atherosclerosis in adults, lipidoxies in children besides this high amount of linolenic acid in oil reduces the shelf life of oil. Other than fatty acids presence of high levels of glucosinolates also causes serious health problems in humans as well as in animal. On one hand oil industries are interested in the mustard varieties having better natural shelf life of their oil as partial hydrogenation performed on vegetable oils to increase the oxidative stability of the oil is not only uneconomical but also leads to the formation of trans fatty acids that implicate serious health concerns [1], whereas consumers are interested in oil with low erucic acid as it causes serious health problems viz., heart disease like atherosclerosis and lipidoxies.