Development of Strains with Yellow Seedcoat in Indian Mustard (Brassies juncea Czern. & Coss.)

A mutant with yellow seedcoat colour was isolated by Nayar (1968) in the mustard variety‘Rai-5′. This mutant was crossed to the national check cultivar ‘Varuna’ in order to develop improved strains with yellow seedcoat. Four such strains with yellow seeds were evaluated for their seed yield, yield components and percent oil. Two strains TM-9 and TM-17 were more productive than ‘Varuna’ in seed yield. All the yellow seeded strains showed higher oil percentage as compared to ‘Varuna’. The seedcoat in the yellow seeded strains accounts for 14-15% of the seed weight as compared to 18% in the black seeded ‘Varuna’. The higher proportion of the cotyledons and embryo accounts for the increased oil percentage in the yellow seeded types.