Pakistan J. Agric. Res. Vol. 26 No. 1, 2013 GROWTH AND YIELD OF DIFFERENT BRASSICA GENOTYPES UNDER SALINE SODIC CONDITIONS Arshad Ali, Imdad Ali Mahmood, Muhammad Salim, Muhammad Arshadullah* and Abdul Rasool Naseem** ABSTRACT:- A field study was conducted at farmer's salt-affected field -1 (ECe=12.3 dS m ; pH=9.7; SAR=46.2) in Hafizabad to test growth and yield response of six Brassica cultivars (BARD-I, Dunkled, Rainbow, BRS-II, Sultan Raya and cv. 95102-5) under saline sodic conditions. Data on growth and yield parameters were collected randomly (average of five plants per replication) at the time of crop maturity. Ionic concentration in plant tissues and oil content in seeds were also determined. Comparatively more number of branches and pods per plant were produced by cultivar Dunkled closely followed by BARD-I while maximum seed yield (241.7 and -1 235.1 kg ha ) was obtained from Dunkled and Sultan Raya, respectively which was statistically at par. However, BRS-II and Rainbow showed significantly more percent oil contents in their seeds but genotype Dunkled showed minimum Na+ and K+ concentration in their tissues. Key Words: Brassica; Genotypes; Saline; Growth; Crop Yield; Yield Components; Pakistan. INTRODUCTION Brassica oilseed species now hold the third position among oilseed crops and are an important source of vegetable oil. The most common Brassica oilseed crops grown for commercial purposes are rape seeds (Brassica campestris L. and Brassica napus L.) and mustards (Brassica juncea L. Czern. and Coss. and Brassica carinata A.Br.). It is being grown on 305,000 ha and its total oil seed production is 251,000t in Pakistan (GoP, 2005). It contributes to 21% of the total edible oil consu- mption in the country. For import of edible oil in Pakistan, Rs.10 billion has been spent during the last few years and this amount increased to Rs. 42 billion to date, with 9% annual growth in the consumption of edible oil (GoP, 2005). With increasing consumption of edible oil, there is a need to increase oilseed production in the country because economy of Pakistan is largely depending upon agriculture. Most of the Brassica species have been categorized as moderately salt tolerant, with the amphidiploids being the relatively more salt tolerant in comparison with the diploids. Due to higher salt tolera- nce of the amphiploids, it has been suggested that their salt tolerance has been acquired from the A (Brass- ica campestris) and C (Brassica oleracea L.) genomes. However, signi- ficant inter and intraspecific variation for salt tolerance exists within Brassicas, which can be exploited through selection and breeding for *Land Resources Research Institute, National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan. **Soil Salinity Research Institute, Pindibhattian, Hafizabad, Pakistan. *Corresponding author: E-mail: imdad20260@yahoo.com 9