Quantifying Some Physiological and Productivity Indices of Canola (Brassica napus L.) Crop under an Arid Environment

Canola (Brassica napus L.) crop ranks third after soybean and palm among oilseed crops for production of vegetable oil and meal for human and livestock, respectively around the globe. The cultivars of canola crop vary greatly in their yield potential in response to eco-edaphic factors under different production environments. Therefore, research studies were undertaken to evaluate eight cultivars of canola crop 'Shiralee', 'Dunkled', 'Bulbul-98', 'Ac-Excel', 'Cyclone', 'Rainbow', 'DGL' and 'Faisal Canola' for quantifying some physiological and productivity indices under normal growing conditions. The results showed that various cultivars of canola differed significantly amongst themselves with respect to biological yield, chlorophyll content, protein content, nutrient composition and components of seed yield. Among the cultivars, cvs. 'Bulbal-98' and 'Rainbow' produced maximum biological yield and seed yield, respectively, Furthermore, maximum yield harvested from cv. 'Rainbow' was associated with higher total seed weight plant-1, while cv. 'Faisal Canola' maintained higher chlorophyll content than other ones. Cultivar 'Dunkled' contained higher K+ nutrient by 21.13 mg g(-1) in leaf tissues compared to minimum (9.73 mg g(-1)) in 'DGL' cultivar. The higher amount of Na+ content (12.16 mg g(-1)) was determined in cv. 'AC Excel'. Cultivar 'Rainbow' maintained higher photosystem (II) activity and had greater partitioning ability of photo-assimilates in the seed tissues. Of various chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, quantum yield of photosystem II and electron transport performance index could be used as a selection criterion for breeding of canola cultivars.