Development and evaluation of full sib progenies of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.) for moisture stress conditions

Abstract

Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.) popularly known as mustard or Raya or Laha is an important rabi oilseed crop of India where it is grown on an area of approximately 6.5 mha, of which about 2.0 mha is rainfed. Because of its suitability to marginal and rainfed areas, Brassica improvement programmes were initiated long back to improve its grain yield potential under these conditions. However, genetic improvement is mainly based on pedigree, bulk and backcross methods. These conventional breeding procedures suffer from narrow genetic base and limited genetic recombination [1]. Application of population improvement procedures such as development and utilization of full sib progenies for such crops broaden genetic base, increase genetic advance through accumulation of desirable alleles and expose the hidden variability through breaking of linkages [2, 3]. Further, outcrossing in this crop has been reported to vary between 10-15% [4]. This extent of outcrossing indicates that a certain level of heterozygosity is prevailing naturally which can be exploited through full sib progeny selection. With this background, the present investigation was planned to increase the yield potential of Indian mustard under moisture stress conditions through full sib progeny development and utilization in breeding programme.