Estimation of gene effects for yield components and oil content in Indian x exotic crosses of [Bmssica juncea (L.) Czern and Coss.]

Abstract

Among the various Brassicas, [Brassica juncea (L.) Czern and Coss.] is the most predominantly grown species in India. The available exotic collections/accessions of B. juncea (introduced from Sweden) with improved fatty acid composition are late maturing and low yielding than the standard varieties viz., Pusa Bold and Varuna. In order to develop strains with early maturity and increased yield levels an attempt was made to estimate the gene effects for diferent plant characters and oil content in different Indian x exotic crosses. The experiment was laid out in RBD with two replications. The parental and back cross generations were grown in one row each whereas F2's in four rows each. The observations on various morphological characters and oil content were recorded on five randomly selected plants per row. The gene effects (m, d, D, i, j) were estimated in different Indian x exotic crosses of B. juncea based on generation mean analysis with some modifications. However, only additive effects for all characters and additive x additive and additive x dominance effects for 1000-seed weight were presented as they were found to be significant.