Line x Tester Analysis in Indian Mustard Brassica juncea L Czern Coss
Oilseed brassicas are the most important rabi (winter) season oilseed crops of India. Amongst the different Brassica species cultivated in the country, Indian mustard (Brassica juncea (L. Czem Coss) is the dominant species covering major area under rapeseed mustard. This species has better yielding ability under Indian conditions because of its suitability to drier conditions and early maturity (Kimber and McGregor, 1995) For yield improvement in B.juncea through hybridization, selection of desirable parents for specific traits is needed. The ability of the parents to combine well depends upon various complex genetic interaCtions. Combining ability analysis, the potential tool for the selection of suitable parents, provides information on nature and relative magnitude of fixable and non, fixable genetic variance and* helps in planning a suitable breeding programme (Sheikh and Singh, 1998) Therefore, the present study was undertaken to identifY the promising parents/crosses through line x tester analysis that can be involved in improvement of Indian mustard.