ASSESSMENT OF QUANTITATIVE AGRO-MORPHOLOGICAL VARIATIONS AMONG BRASSICA RAPA DIVERSE POPULATIONS

Brassica rapa is one of the important oilseed crops and commonly grown all over the world for multiple purposes. The present study was designed to study intra-specific quantitative characters among 253 B. rapa genotypes. The two years mean morphological data were recorded for all these characters under field condition. Significant variations were recorded among genotypes for days to flower initiation, days to 50% flowering completion, days to flowering completion, days to maturity, leaf length and width, plant height, primary branches plant-1, main raceme length, pod length, pod width, stem thickness,, thousand seed weight, seed yield plant-1 and pod shattering (stage I-IV). Many elite lines such as Br-505, Br-512, Br-536, Br-547, Br-560, Br-760, etc. had excellent morphogenic responses in both years. The present early flowering and maturity lines, pod shatter resistant and maximum yielding genotypes give unique opportunity to enhance the quality and production of this important crop.