Research Projects

Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) dominates the rapeseed-mustard group in India, covering over 90% of the total acreage (9.00 Mha) and accounting for 28.45% of the country’s oilseed production (40.42 million metric tons) in 2022-23 (USDA, 2023). Being an important crop of the Indian oilseed sector, significant efforts have been made to improve its seed and oil yields to achieve national self-sufficiency in edible oils. Despite that, huge quantities of edible oil are still being imported every year to meet the requirements of the domestic population. To achieve self-sufficiency in edible oil, the productivity of Indian mustard needs to be urgently improved. However, the crop's susceptibility to abiotic stresses like aluminum (Al) toxicity stress in acid soils and drought stress leads to substantial yield losses in eastern and western parts of the country. Though few varieties of Indian mustard were released for cultivation in adverse regions, these failed to occupy large areas due to their poor yield potential. It suggests that the target environments still demand better tolerance against Al toxicity and drought stress conditions. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve the productivity of Indian mustard under adverse climatic conditions to harness its full genetic potential. Al toxicity and drought tolerance are complex and polygenic traits (Limbalkar et al., 2023; Fletcher et al., 2015). To improve tolerance against both stresses approaches like quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping and marker-assisted backcross breeding are being employed (Mwadzingeni et al., 2014). Therefore, by identifying and mapping the genes/QTLs associated with tolerance to Al toxicity and drought stress conditions, it will be possible to develop molecular markers that can be used to select tolerant genotypes in mustard breeding programs. This will enable the development of Al toxicity and drought-tolerant Indian mustard varieties that can better withstand adverse regions. Very few studies reported mapping of QTLs conferring drought tolerance in B. juncea; and it is largely unexplored for Al toxicity stress tolerance (Zhou et al., 2022). With view to improve the productivity of Indian mustard under Al toxicity and drought stress conditions, this project aims to identify genes/QTLs governing tolerance to Al toxicity and drought stress conditions in Indian mustard. The knowledge and material obtained from this project will help to understand the genetic basis of tolerance against Al toxicity and drought stress conditions in Indian mustard. It will also provide valuable molecular tools for breeding resilient mustard cultivars, capable of thriving under Al toxicity and drought stress conditions for improving the productivity of Indian mustard under adverse conditions. Through focused breeding and molecular efforts, the project seeks to provide sustainable solutions to improve mustard productivity and income of farmers in acid and drought-prone regions of the country.