Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources

A wide range of oilseed Brassica accessions, including breeding lines developed at Rothamsted Research (UK) with a wide differential resistant profile to Hyaloperonospora parasitica-formally Peronospora parasitica, were introduced to India during Phase-I (1991–1998) of an Indo-UK research collaboration. These included 54 accessions of Brassica napus, 52 of B. juncea and 23 of B. rapa. All accessions were put to intensive field trials at GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (Pantnagar) and other sites for adaptation, evaluation and further selection. Two of the B. napus accessions, EC338986-2 and EC338996-1, maintained high resistance to downy mildew and white rust as well as tolerance to Alternaria blight and Sclerotinia stem rot; a third accession, EC339000, stood out as relatively early maturing with yield exceeded the national check GSL-1, particularly in the hilly regions like Kangra (Himanchal Pradesh) and R.S. Pura (Jammu and Kashmir). Four of the B. juncea, accessions, EC399296, EC399299, EC399301 and EC399313 expressed some tolerance to Alternaria blight disease with no visible symptoms of infection with downy mildew, white rust and Sclerotinia; two more accessions, EC414308 (NRCR-837) and EC414319 (NRCR-836) were found to be tolerant to downy mildew, white rust, and Sclerotinia stem rot when evaluated in initial variety trials (IVT). EC414308 was promoted to advanced variety trials–1 (AVT-1). Research strategies to fully realize the potential contribution of genetic enhancement to sustainable production of rapeseed-mustard has also been suggested and discussed.