Broadening the genetic base of Abyssinian mustard (Brassica carinata A. Braun) through introgression of genes from related allotetraploid species

Brassica carinata (BBCC, 2n = 34) has still to emerge as a major oilseed crop owing to poor agronomic attributes like long stature, long maturity duration and low seed yield. The restricted amount of genetic variability available in natural B. carinata necessitates utilization of new sources of variability for broadening its genetic base. Interspecific hybridization followed by selection in selfed and back cross progenies was employed to generate useful variability into B. carinata cv �PC5� from elite lines of Brassica napus (AACC, 2n = 38) and Brassica juncea (AABB, 2n = 36). The morphological evaluation of 24 stable introgressed progenies revealed wide range of variability for key economic traits. The progenies with mean maturity duration of 161 ± 2.1 days, short stature of 139.5 ± 6.5 cm and seed yield per plant of 18.6 ± 2.0 g in comparison to the corresponding figures of 168 ± 4.6 days, 230.6 ± 12.7 cm and 12.0 ± 2.4 g in �PC5� (recurrent parent) were recovered. Diversity analysis at morphological level revealed that 22 out of 24 stable introgressed progenies were grouped with B. carinata �PC5� at average taxonomic distance of 1.19. The diversity at molecular level using 25 polymorphic and reproducible RAPD primers revealed that 19 out of 21 introgressed progenies grouped with B. carinata �PC5� at a similarity coefficient of 0.68. The clusters in general represent a wide range of genetic diversity in the back cross lines of B. carinata as a result of introgression of genes from elite lines of B. napus and B. juncea parent