GENE ACTION OF YIELD RELATED CHARACTERS UNDER NORMAL AND DROUGHT STRESS CONDITIONS IN BRASSICA NAPUS L

Climate change is threat multiplier of existing problems. It is causing many more stresses including abiotic and biotic. Among the abiotic stresses, drought is the big challenge for researchers and farmers. The easiest and cost-effective approach for various stresses due to climate change is adaptive genes deployment. For this purpose, information related to gene action is very much necessary for developing climate resilient crops. The purpose of this study was to determine the gene action of various yields and yield related characters of Brassica napus under drought stress. Three drought sensitive and eight drought tolerant varieties were collected and hybridized by following the Line x Tester fashion. Developed breeding material and their parents were assessed at maturity stage. RCBD with split plot arrangement was used, in this experiment. Two drought stress and a normal treatment were applied. Data were recorded for different yield and its associated characters. Observation of genetic variability was done amongst the developed breeding material for most of the traits. Highest genetic variation suggested that selection will be more fruitful under drought stress and normal treatments. Potential parents were chosen from the results of Line x Tester analysis i.e. ZmR-4 and ZmR-10. Among all the crosses Zmm-5 x Rainbow exhibited better performance for yield and yield associated characters under both conditions. Yield/plant showed non-additive gene action under drought stress and normal condition that might be exploited in next generation.