Effect of sowing windows on biochemical traits, yield and their correlation in indian mustard

Ten Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.) genotypes viz., ACN-240, SKM-1626, ACN-226, ACN-244, ACN-255, T-9, ACN-237, PM-26 (check) and TAM 108-1 (check) were assessed under four sowing dates i.e.30^th October (timely sowing), 15^th November (moderately late sowing), 30^th November (late sowing), 15^th December (very late sowing) to study the morpho-physiological, biochemical and yield and yield attributing characters during the Rabi 2023 at AICRP on linseed and mustard, College of Agriculture, Nagpur Agriculture, Dr. PDKV, Akola. Three replications in a factorial randomized block design (FRBD) were used to set up the experiment. The two experimental factors were sowing conditions and genotypes. Results revealed that, genotype ACN-237 outperformed other genotypes on October 30, November 15 and November 30 in terms of biochemical parameters including total chlorophyll content, oil content. For genotype ACN-237, the 30^th October, 15^th November and 30^th November sowing dates had no significant percent reduction in yield and yield-attributable characteristics. In Sowing dates, there is a significant yield reduction in very late sown condition (15^th December) in comparison with timely sown (30^th October) condition in yield and yield-attributable characteristics including number of siliquae plant^-1(19.19%), test weight (21.68%), seed yield plant^-1(29.05%) and seed yield ha^-1(39.35%). The correlation analysis was conducted for 11 traits at phenotypic and genotypic levels. Seed yield ha^-1 was positively correlated with plant height (cm), leaf area (dm²), relative water content (%), crop growth rate (gm^-2day^-1), total chlorophyll content (mgg^-1), proline content (µmolg^-1), oil content (%), number of siliquae plant^-1, test weight (g), seed yield plant^-1 (g) at both genotypic and phenotypic levels. The study revealed significant differences among the mustard genotypes both in their genotypic and phenotypic level. Seed yield ha^-1 was positively correlated with plant height, leaf area, relative water content, crop growth rate, total chlorophyll content, proline content, oil content, number of siliquae plant^-1, test weight, seed yield plant^-1 at both genotypic and phenotypic levels. However, genotypes ACN-237, ACN-226 and ACN-250 consistently performed well under 30^th October, 15^th November and 30^th November sowing dates.