Morphological attributes species identification of oleiferous Brassica species and better parents selection criteria for Brassica Juncea

An experiment was carried out with 40 oleiferous Brassica species to categorize them under different species considering the morphological attributes and to find out the best genotypes of B. juncea for the future hybridization program. The genotypes showed wide variation for morphological characteristics and thus were categorized under three cultivated species- B. rapa, B. napus and B. juncea. In B. juncea, number of primary branches/plant, length of siliqua, number of seeds/siliqua, number of siliquae/plant, 1000 seed weight and days to maturity showed low genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance and genetic advance in the percentage of mean was recorded for the character of number of secondary branches/plant. Correlation coefficient revealed that yield/plant had significant positive association with number of primary branches/plant, number of secondary branches/plant, days to 50% flowering, days to maturity and number of siliquae/plant. Path analysis revealed that number of primary branches/plant, number of secondary branches/plant, days to 50% flowering, days to maturity and number of siliquae/plant demonstrated positive direct effect and plant height, length of siliqua, number of seeds/siliqua and 1000 seed weight showed negative direct effect on yield/plant. Considering the genetic status and other agronomic performances 02 materials viz. BD-9069 and BD-9088 could be used as superior parents for mustard and rape improvement programme in future.