Narender Mohan / Nisha Kumari
Indian mustard [Brassica juncea (L.) Czern & Coss.] is the second largest oilseed crop in India after soyabean. It accounts for nearly 30 % of the total oilseeds and 27 % to edible oil pool of the country. The genus Brassica belongs to the family Brassicaceae (cruciferae) comprising of about 100 species mainly grown for vegetables, oil, fodder or condiments. Brassica is predominately cultivated in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Gujrat. It grows under diverse agro-ecological situations such as timely sown/late sown, rainfed/irrigated, sole and mixed crop with cereals (wheat and barley etc.) and Rabi (October-April) pulses (Chickpea, Lentil etc.). It is grown with an annual precipitation of 400 to 500 mm, annual temperature of 60C - 27 0C and soil pH of 4.3 to 8.3 as rainfed or irrigated crop planted through September (early), October (timely) to November (late). Timely sowing is aided with high productivity, quicker seed germination, vigorous ground covering ability, more tolerance to heat and drought with enhanced insects and disease resistance.
