Abstract

Water stress is the primary constraint for environmental crop development. Water scarcity can severely affect growth, physiology, and yield traits of mustard varieties. The aim of the study is to evaluate drought resistant cultivars for genetically potential seed yield and oil content. In this context, the current research was carried out in randomized complete block design with factorial setup having twenty mustard genotypes, four replications and three treatments in growing season 2017-18. The treatments given as, T1 control with well water (Watered at stem growth, flowering, silique formation and maturity stages), T2 water stress at maturity stage (Watered at stem growth, flowering and silique formation stages) and T3 water stress at silique formation (Watered at stem growth and flowering stages). Based on obtained results, the majority of the morphological (Plant height, branch plant-1, siliqua plant-1 and seed siliqua-1), yield (yield plant-1 and seed weight of 1000 grains), physiological (Chlorophyll and relatively water percentage), and oil (Oil and protein percentage) characteristics were statistically different (P?0.05) for cultivars, treatments, and genotype x treatment collaboration, indicating that the breeding materials utilized in this study has worth using in future mustard breeding programs. Under field screening, almost half of the evaluated genotypes (AARI-Canola, Galaxy and Super Raya, Khanpur Raya, K-J-1104, Coral-432, MS-2, Dhoom-1, HUM-322 and MS-4) showed tolerance against water stresses hence utilizing these genetic resources for water stress breeding would likely enhance the seed productivity under less irrigated areas.

Keywords: Mustard, water stress, field screening, yield traits, oil traits, Physiological traits.