Evaluation of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea [L.] Czern & Coss.) germplasm under rainfed condition

To identify suitable donors for different morpho-agronomic characters, 226 indigenous accessions of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea [L.] Czern & Coss.) were evaluated under rainfed agro-ecology. Appreciable range of variation was observed for all the characters except for days to maturity and oil content. Maximum variability was obtained for seed yield (CV 45.6%) followed by secondary branches/plant (CV 28.8%) and harvest index (CV 26.9%). Seed yield was positively and significandy associated with all the characters studied except oil content, which was found to have positively significant correlation with days to maturity only. A number of useful accessions was identified for different agro-morphological characters and oil content. The accessions with high oil content and harvest index were also characterized.