PLANT CELL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

The present investigation evaluated fifteen Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.) genotypes for seed yield and associated component traits during the Rabi season of 2025-26 at the Agricultural Research Farm, Prof. Rajendra Singh (Rajju Bhaiya) University, Naini, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. The experiment was laid out in a Randomised Block Design with three replications. Eleven quantitative traits were recorded and analysed for variability, heritability, genetic advance, correlation and path coefficient effects. Analysis of variance showed highly significant differences among genotypes for most traits, indicating the presence of exploitable genetic variability. High genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation were recorded for the number of siliquae per plant, number of siliquae per shoot and number of seeds per plant. Broad-sense heritability was highest for the number of siliquae per plant, number of siliquae per shoot and plant height at 90 DAS, and these traits also showed high genetic advance as a percentage of the mean. Seed yield per plot showed strong positive genotypic associations with the number of siliquae per shoot, number of seeds per siliqua and number of seeds per plant. Path coefficient analysis indicated that plant height at 90 DAS, number of siliquae per shoot and number of siliquae per plant were important contributors to seed yield at the genotypic level. The findings indicate that these traits may support selection for yield improvement in Indian mustard under the studied conditions.