Uncovering the Genetic Potential of Rapeseed (Brassica Napus L.) Genotypes against Water Deficit Condition rapeseed evaluation for water stress

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Water shortage is a key abiotic issue that restricts agricultural yield in several parts of Pakistan, as well as globally. Despite many attempts made over the last several years, rapeseed crop productivity has remained unchanged, even though there is a lot of genetic diversity in rapeseed genotypes for seed production and other economic characteristics. In this study, a set of 20 rapeseed cultivars were tested for resistance to water stress in natural field using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) in a factorial setting with four replications for six physiological and yield and oil traits, while three water systems (Treatments = T) were applied for this investigation. T₁ was considered as control/normal with four irrigations, T₂ was considered as water stress at maturity with three irrigations and T₃ was regarded as water stress at silique formation with two irrigations. Mean squares of different sources (genotypes, water treatments, and their interaction) was significant for all studied characters, urging the importance of these genetic resources for future breeding. Considering the average performance under three water systems, the set of six genotypes of rapeseed such as NARC Sarson, CON-1, Punjab Sarson, Rainbow, Rohi Sarson and Hyola-I were tagged as potential rapeseed genetic stock for water stress breeding. This suggests that these rapeseed genotypes might give valuable genetic recombinations for water stress situations, and hence could be used in future breeding efforts.