INCORPORATION OF SUPERIOR NUTRITIONAL QUALITY TRAITS IN INDIAN B. juncea

Abstract

The presence of high erucic acid in the seed oil and high gluconsinolate in the oil free meal limit
the global utilization of Indian rapeseed mustard. In order to reduce the levels of erucic acid and
glucosinolate in Indian mustard, B. juncea var. Varona was crossed with low erucic acid B. juncea
strains Zem-l and TERI (OE)M21, and the low glucosinolate line BJ-I058 for transfer of low
erucic/low glucosinolate characteristics. Simultaneously, a unique three way cross; B. juncea (var.
Varuna X Zem-l) X BJ-I058 was made for transfer of double low characteristics. The fatty acids
and glucosinolates were analyzed and monitored through improved methods of GC and HPLC
respectively. The progenies of selected plants were advanced through pedigree method· and recurrent
selections. The paper reports the transfer of low erucic acid (0- 1.5%), low glucosinolate (9-25
/-lm/g oil free meal) and double low (0% erucic acid and 10-27 /-lID glucosinolate/g oil free meal)
characteristics in B. juncea var. Varuna.