Tolerance against ageing in different varieties of Brassica rapa var toria, B. rapa var yellow sarson and B. juncea( L.)

Seed deterioration is a serious problem in developing countries where seeds are stored in places usually without a proper control of humidity and temperature. In this investigation, an effort was made to identify crops as well as varieties of brassica spp. tolerance to ageing and predicting loss of seed viability at regular interval through standard germination under laboratory condition. Analysis of variance showed that mean squares due to crops, ageing periods and crop× ageing period were significant for % seed germination. Result revealed that standard germination declined from 95.63 to 37.54% in toria, 92 to 28.96 in yellow sarson, and 93.79 to 30.92% in mustard. Similar changes in germination % were observed at 9 and 12 months of observation. After 6 months, germination % declined from 95.13 to 35.50% in toria, 91.87 to 28% in yellow sarson and 93.33 to 29% in mustard. Analysis of variance showed significant differences for %seed germination due to varieties, ageing period and interaction of varieties × ageing periods. At varietal level AP2, AP3 and AP4 aged seed, Bhawani (82.66%, 68.16% and 28.17%) showed higher seed germination % respectively than other three varieties of toria. In case of yellowsarson and mus-tard least deterioration for standard germination were observed in B-9 and Kranti respectively.This study indicates that toria seeds have better storability than yeloowsarson and mustard. At varietal level good storage potential was found in Bhawani, B-9 and Krantivariety of toria, yellow sarson and mustard respectively than other three varieties of studied crops