A comparative study of C-allocation to seed storage compounds among genotypes of Indian mustard under N fertilization

Abstract

A study in twenty four genotypes of Brassica juncea under nitrogen (N) fertilization (80\xa0kg\xa0ha −1 N (N 80 )) showed genotypic variation in oil content. Regression analysis showed oil content to be highly dependent on the availability of seed nitrogen. There was an inverse relationship between oil content and seed meal protein under N treatment in few genotypes only, while others showed opposite effect. This may be due to the distribution of more carbon towards starch synthesis in some genotypes as oil and starch content are negatively correlated (r\u2009=\u2009−\u20090.298). The increase in biomass under N 80 showed the influence of N on the rate of photosynthesis. N application also influenced total soluble sugar content with a reduction of 8.2–79.8% within the genotypes. This was proportional to the change in biomass, which in turn reflects in the variation of starch, protein and oil content. Based on our observations using the SAS software the twenty four genotypes were clustered into two categories, cluster I showed increased in oil content and cluster II showed decrease in oil content.