1 Abhinandan Singh et al. Plant Archives Vol. 22, No. 2, 2022 pp.339-344 e-ISSN:2581-6063 (online), ISSN:0972-5210 Plant Archives Journal homepage: http://www.plantarchives.org DOI Url : https://doi.org/10.51470/PLANTARCHIVES.2022.v22.no2.059 SULPHUR NUTRITION AND ITS RESPONSE ON THE SEED, OIL AND PROTEIN YIELD OF INDIAN MUSTARD (BRASSICA JUNCEA L.) GENOTYPES Abhinandan Singh 1 , Amit Kumar Singh 2 * and S.B. Singh 2 1 Centre of Excellence on Dry land Agriculture, Banda University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda, UP-210001 (India) 2 Department of Agronomy, Banda University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda, UP-210001 (India), *Email: singh.amit27@gmail.com, ORCID iD: 0000-0001-9130-6635 (Date of Receiving : 06-07-2022; Date of Acceptance : 13-09-2022) ABSTRACT This experiment was carried out in factorial complete randomized block design (RCBD) with 3 replications and 12 treatment combinations at the College Research Farm, Banda University, of Agriculture & Technology, Banda (Uttar Pradesh) during the winter season of 2018-19 and 2019-20. The treatments consisted of three genotypes of Indian mustard namely, 1) ‘PM 25’, 2) ‘NRCHB 101’, and 3) ‘DRMR 150-35’ and four sulphur levels i.e. a) No Sulphur (0), b) 10 kg, c) 20 kg, and d) 30 kg per hectare. The results indicated that marked differences were observed among the Indian mustard’s genotypes with regard to yields and crop biomass. The genotypes ‘DRMR 150-35’ produced the maximum seed yield of 1505 kg and 1560 kg ha -1 being a margin of 5.98% & 11.89% and 3.45% & 8.03% over remaining genotypes (‘NRCHB 101’ and ‘PM-25’), respectively though it remained comparable with ‘NRCHB 101 but proved distinct advantage over PM 25 during both the years. Similarly, genotype ‘NRCHB 101’ produced significantly higher dry matter production plant -1 , protein content and protein recovery as compared ‘PM 25’. Increasing application of sulphur to the crop correspondingly enhanced a higher dry matter production plant -1 , siliquae plant -1 , seed yield, stover yield, oil content, oil yield, protein content, protein yield, nutrient (N and S) content and their nutrient uptake. Keywords: Brassica juncea, genotypes, sulphur levels, quantitative traits, qualitative traits. Introduction India is the 4 th largest oilseed producing economy after China, USA and Brazil contributing 10% of global oilseed production, 6-7% of world vegetable oil production and roughly 7%of protein meal (Nayak et al., 2021). Among the seven edible oilseed crops cultivated in India, rapeseed- mustard rank 3 rd after soybean & groundnut and it contributes nearly 28% in the Indian oilseed’s economy and 80% of rabi oilseed production. The India has attained the ever highest Rapeseed-mustard productivity by 1420 kg/ha during 2020 despite escalating population of India and state are facing acute shortage of edible oil by 53% and 49% and indeed these short falls in oil requirements have to be fulfilled by importing edible oil and oilseed to meet up the current deficit from other countries on a cost over 70000 crore (a huge amount of foreign exchange). We are importing. As per estimation, the projected per capita edible oil consumption will reach 25 kg by 2030 with an annual per capita consumption growth of 3.1%. In India, Rapeseed-mustard is largely cultivated in an area of 6.96 million ha with a production of 9.73 million tonnes with 1397 kg ha -1 of yield productivity (GOI, 2022) though much shorter against the global average productivity of 2144 kg ha -1 . However, In Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh, it occupies comparatively 0.42 Mha of land and produces 0.36 MT with a least productivity of 857 kg ha -1 by 39% lesser than the national productivity of the crop as the crop is mostly grown in poor resource-management conditions of marginal and sub marginal areas, either mixed or intercropped under rain fed conditions. Thus, it is the need of the hour to intensify oilseed production through adoption of improved agronomic practices to meet the future requirement. Besides, use of traditional and/or local varieties, intensive agriculture with imbalanced and irrational application of inorganic high analysis S-free fertilizers leading to widespread S deficiency in Indian soils could be other reasons for poor productivity (Rana et al., 2020). Yield is a complex trait and is greatly influenced by various genetically governed yield-contributing traits such as seed size, primary and secondary branches per plant, and length of siliqua, seeds per siliqua, and the environmental factors. Hence, the selection of superior/improved genotypes is the first and foremost stipulation to increase crop productivity as it plays a key role in producing higher yield due to their genetic enrichments and better synthesis towards oils. By this study, we are in search of the most prominent variety that has a better adoptability to the climatic conditions with higher yielding potential, and also possess