Trait Association, Genetic Analyses and Fatty Acid Profiles in Oilseed Producing Rapeseed-Mustard (Brassica spp.) Genotypes

Short duration oilseed Brassica varieties are important to increase cropping intensity as well as total oilseed production. In this research, genetic and multivariate analyses were conducted for 19 morphological characters of 48 rapeseed and mustard genotypes. Evaluation of oil content and fatty acid profiles were done for ten selected rapeseed and mustard genotypes. Significant genotypic variations were observed for all morphological characters except 1000 seeds weight. Days to 50% flowering, plant height, total number of siliqua per plant, number of seeds per siliqua, length of siliqua and days to maturity exhibited high broad sense heritability along with high genetic advance. Length of primary branches, number of primary branches, number of secondary branches, total number of siliqua per plant, number of siliqua per main axis and number of siliqua per primary branches had a significant and positive correlation with yield per plant. According to principal component analysis and cluster analysis, BARI Sarisha-9, BD-110455, BD-7113, BD-6954 and BD-6953 were the earliest genotypes and BD-10112, M-395 and M-119-5 were comparatively high yielding genotypes. The genotypes BD-6953, BD-6954, BD-10455, BD-10112 and BD-7113 had comparatively lower erucic acid and saturated fatty acid profiles that are regarded as better edible oil characteristics. The selected genotypes and associated traits could be utilized for developing short duration, high yielding and edible quality rapeseed-mustard varieties.