Brassica napus" redirects here. For another cultivar of the same species grown for its root, see Rutabaga. Similar Brassica plants used in cooking as leafy greens, and also called rape may include rapini and choy sum.

1. Introduction
 Family : Cruciferae.
 Two species of rapeseed and mustard.
1. Brassica juncea
2. Brassica campestris
 Rapeseed and mustard are the major rabi oilseed crops of India.
 In Indian language, ‘raya’ refers to mustard.
 While sarson, toria and taramira are rapeseed.
 Origin of Indian mustard - India and China.
 Afghanistan is center's of origin of brown sarson.

2.  The oil content varies from 37 to 49%.
 The seed and oil are used as condiment in the preparation of pickles,
curries, vegetables, hair oils, medicines and manufacture of greases.
 The oil cake is used as feed and manure.
 The leaves of young plants are used as green vegetables and green stem and
leaves are a good source of green fodder for cattle.
 In the tanning industry, mustard oil is used for softening leather.
 But its use is limited due to the anti-nutritional factor glucosinolate.
 Refined oil is called colza is used in Europe.
ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE

3. Area and production
Area(m ha) Production(m t) Productivity(kg/ha)
World(2018-19) 36.81 72.86 1980
India(2021-22) 3rd
estimation
6.7 11.75 1753
• China, India and Pakistan accounts for 90% of world production. Other major
producing countries are Canada, Germany and France.
• Rajasthan alone accounts 45% of the area and 48% of the production of
rapeseed and mustard in India.
• In India its grown in states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,
Gujarat etc.
Source : indiastat.com

4. Classification
Common name Botanical name Feature
Rapeseed
Indian rape/toria B. Rapa var. Toria Short duration and taken as catch crop
Yellow sarson B. Rapa var. Yellow
sarson
Brown sarson B. Rapa var. Brown
sarson
Grown in Kashmir
Summer rape/winter
rape/gobhi sarson
B. Napus Medium duration crop
Rocket salad/taramira Eruca sativa Grown in dry region
Mustard
Indian mustard, brown
mustard
Brassica juncea Grown in Indian condition
African-Ethiopian mustard B. Carinata Long duration crop
Black mustard B. Nigra Used for condiments

6. Growth stages of rapeseed and mustard
65 to 85 days
80 to 135 days

7. Content of seed
1. Seed contains 37-49% oil.
2. Oil-cake contains 'sinirgin' that causes palatability problems due to its
bitter taste (pungency).
3. Oil-cakes also contains 'glucosinolate,' because of this it is not used
as a protein supplement.
4.Glucosinolate in seed meal and fibre are anti-nutritional factors.

8. Difference between rapeseed and mustard
Character Rapeseed (B. rapa) Mustard(B. juncea)
Plant height Shorter (45-150 cm) Taller (90-200 cm)
Leaves sessile and are glabrous & hairy. Are stalked broad
Fruit (pod) Thicker and are laterally
compressed with the beak
Erect with short and shout
beak
Seed Yellow or brown with smooth
seed coat
Brown or dark brown
with rough seed coat
mustard

9. Rapeseed-Mustard Varieties
• DRMR 1165-40 –(2018)
• Average seed yield: 2200-2600 kg/ ha.
• Oil Content: 40-42.5 %.
• Days to maturity: 133- 151 days.
• Remarks: Heat tolerant at seedling stage.
• DRMR 150-35 –(2015)
• Average seed yield: 1828 kg/ ha
• Oil Content: 39.8 %
• Days to maturity: 86- 140 days.
• Remarks: Tolerant to Powder
mildew.

10. Recently released Varieties
 PDZM-31 1st canola indian variety less than 2% erucic acid in oil , and less
than 30 ppm glucosinolates.
 DMH-11 it is a gm , herbicide tolerant hybrid
 Pusa mustard -30 And pusa mustard -32 less than 2% erucic acid.
 The first CMS based hybrid (NRCHB 506).

11. Canola
Canola is the cultivars of oilseed rape which produces seed oil with < 2% erucic
acid and seed-cake with <30 µmols aliphatic glucosinolate per gram.
 The need of canola felt to overcome the problem of poor quality of oil and
seed-meal. Canola contains high value oil and protein.
 'Canola' is the trademark of Canadian Canola Association
 In India, 1st double low hybrid Hyola 401' was released in 1996 by Adventa
Seed.' (CCA).
 Low erucic acid and low glucosinolate varieties are TERI Uttam Jawahar,

12. Climate
 Rapeseed and mustard are of the tropical as well as the temperate zone
crops
 Grown as rabi crop. It requires relatively cool temperature and a dry harvest
period.
 They prefer optimum temperature of 24-28 0c.
 Brassicas grow well in areas receiving 350-550 mm of rainfall.
Soil
 Medium to heavy loam soil
 Rapeseed is salinity tolerant.
 Indian mustard is also salinity and sodicity tolerant.
 Heavy clay soils, subjected to water logging are not desirable.

13. Land preparation
 A fine seed bed requires to ensure good germination
 Every ploughing should be followed by a light rolling or planking so that soil is
finely pulverized and levelled.
Seeds and sowing:
 Seed rate is 5 to 6 kg/ha, at a depth of 2.5 to 3.0 cm.
 Sowing could be done either behind the local plough or through seed drill
 Seed treated with thiram or captan @ of 2.5 g per kg of seed.
 Spacing ; 30 x 10 cm or 45 x 15 cm

14. Manures and fertilizers
• 12 -15 tons/ha of FYM .
• N:P:K requirement is about 90:60:40 kg/ha
• Rapeseed-mustard has the highest requirement of sulphur among the oilseed
crops
• Basal application of 40 kg S/ha + thiourea (0.1%) sprayed at pre-flowering
stage increased mustard seed yield
Time of sowing
• Toria: 1st fortnight of September
• Mustard : 3rd week of September to 2nd week of October
• Thinning of the plants at 20-25 days after sowing.

15. Response to plant growth regulators
 Plant Growth Regulators (PGRs) mitigate abiotic and biotic by favorably
affecting various physiological, metabolic, structural and other plant processes.
 Seed loss prior to or during harvest because of shattering of fruits is directly
correlated with hormonal imbalances and poor development of lignified cells in
the fruit wall.
 Foliar spray of brassinolide @20ppm and salicylic acid @100ppm improved
seed yield under rainfed conditions
 Spray of GA3 at 40DAS leads to better NPK accumulation.
 Application of Mixatalol to Brassica plants as foliar spray leads to increase in
secondary and tertiary branching thus helps in maximizing yield

16. Irrigation:
 Irrigation requirement is 350 – 550 mm.
 Irrigation at 0.8 IW/CPE ratio.
 With regard to the time of irrigation, it is recommended to delay the first
irrigation as much as possible.
 This helps the plants to branch well, which in turn results in profuse flowering
and fruiting.
 Ridge and furrow system results in yield advantage with 20% saving in
irrigation water.
 Two irrigations at pre-bloom and pod filling stages are beneficial.

17. Weed control
 Argemone maxicana is a serious weed of mustard.
 Eating of mustard oil with >0.1% Argemone oil causes dropsy in human
beings.
 This is due to the alkaloids dihydro-sanguinarine and sanguinarine present in
Argemone maxicana.
 Dropsy symptoms - Swelling of limbs, vomiting, loose motions, nausea,
breathlessness and cardiac failure.
 One Inter cultivation at 3 weeks after sowing is beneficial.
 PPI of Fluchloralin @ 0.5-0.75 kg/ha is also effective.
 Pre emergence application of Isoproturan 0.75 – 1 kg/ha.

18. Frost damage
 Most occurs in north India during december-january.
 It is usually occurs in temperature below -2 °c
 When there is a rapid ice nucleilization and ice crystals form within the tissue
the ice crystals physically rupture the cell walls and membranes within the cells
causing physical damage.
Symptoms
 Water soaked and wilted
 Tissues will turn black within few hours of the day.
 Leaves turned to brown

19. Management
 Irrigation increases the soil temperature.
 Sprinkler irrigation is more advantageous since water directly fall on plant
parts.
 Smoke during night time

20. Mixed cropping: It is grown as a mixed crop with wheat, barley during
winter season
Intercropping: Brassicas are generally intercropped with rabi crops. Some
Profitable systems are
Wheat + Mustard 4:1
Gram + Mustard 4:2
Barley + Mustard 6:1
Intercropping in autumn planted (adsali) sugarcane has increased the net
returns without affecting the yield of sugarcane.

21. Harvesting and threshing:
 When the crop is ripe, the leaves become yellow, the plants are uprooted or
harvested with the help of sickles.
 when 75% siliquae on the plant turns yellowish and preferably in the morning
hours when the siliquae are damp with the dew.
 Then the harvested plants should be kept for sun drying for 3 to 4 days.
 The seeds should be winnowed, cleaned and be sundried for another 3 to 4 days
till the moisture content of the seed becomes 8 percent.
Yield
 Average yield of rapeseed and mustard is about 1400-2000 kg ha-1.
 Toria gives an yield of 800-1000 kg ha-1.

22. Processing

23. Oil Quality Consideration
 Seed colour could be yellow, black or white.
 Yellow coloured seeds have lesser seed coats, hence higher oil
content.
 The light coloured oil from yellow seeds of Brassicas are the
premium oils to enter trade.
 The brassica oilseeds have the oil content of 30-48% in air dried
seeds. Colour of the oil is yellow to brown.
 Rapeseed and mustard oils have anti nutritional factors like erucic
acid.

24.  The cultivars with <2% of erucic acid in oil and < 30 micromoles/gram of
glucosinolates in oil meal are called as Conola varieties suitable for edible
purpose.
 It is also desirable to have less linolenic acid (<3%) and higher linoleic
acid(>30%) for prolonged cooking and higher shelf life.

25. Insects Pests
Mustard Sawfly Mustard Aphid Painted Bug of Mustard Cabbage Butterfly
Control Measures
 Keep the field free from weeds.
 Sowing the crop earlier than the normal sowing time escape the pest attack.
 Hand picking and killing of the caterpillars
 Clipping and destruction of eggs in leaves should be followed
 Spraying with Quinolphos 50 EC at the rate of 1 L/ha controls the pest.
 Rogor 30 EC@1L/ha in 1000 litres of water.

26. Control Measures
1. Keep the field free from weeds.
2. Use healthy seeds.
3. Collect and burn the affected plant portions after the harvest of the crop.
4. Spray Dithane M-45 at the rate of 2 kg in1000 litre/ha.
5. Spray the crop with 0.2% Zineb or 0.1% Karathane as soon as the
symptoms are noticed
Diseases
Alternaria Blight
Downy Mildew White Blister

27. Crop Improvement
 The major objectives of the Brassica research programme in the country are
 Improve oil and seed yield
 Hybrid development
 Stabilizing yield through insulation of cultivars against major biotic and
abiotic stresses
 Improving oil (low erucic acid) and seed meal (low glucosinolate) quality
 Developing suitable varieties for non-traditional areas.

28. System of Mustard Intensification (SMI)
 Farmers from several states have claimed superior yields by growing
traditional mustard varieties using a new method of cultivation. The system,
known as System of Mustard Intensification (SMI)
 allows resource-poor farmers to use less water and seeds and yet achieve
significantly higher yields.
 This technology advocates a radically different package of practices.
 This technology, which is also known as system of root intensification (SRI),
involves planting saplings at a wide distance from each other, using less water
and seeds and creating soil conditions which are aerated and microbe-friendly.
 In Umariya district of Madhya Pradesh, the SMI process has yielded between 4
to 5.7 tonnes per hectare.

29. Mustard Seed Dryer
 Cost ₹ 2.50 Lakh
 Capacity -500kg/hr to 2500kg/hr
Uses
 Reduced post harvest loss
 Quick drying of seeds
 Time saving
 We can dry the seeds in adverse condition

30. Hybrid development in Indian Mustard
 The development of hybrid in Indian mustard by National Research Centre
on Rapeseed- Mustard, Bharatpur, namely NRCHB-506, through heterosis
breeding.
 This hybrid had shown superiority for oil yield over existing popular
varieties
 It is of medium duration (133 days),
 has high oil content (40.6 per cent)
 Another hybrid, namely DMH-11 has also been developed by Dhara.

31. Future line of research
 Horizontal and vertical intensification in rapeseed-mustard production .
 An optimum agronomic package of practices for high yielding and insect,
pest, and disease resistant varieties, along with the upcoming hybrids needs
to be worked out.
 Adoption of SSNM, precision agriculture, and conservation agriculture can
bring more profits to the mustard growers.
 An IWM approach needs to be developed for problematic and parasitic
weeds in mustard..
 Suitable crop models and simulation for various inputs like water and
nutrients.

32. Institution
1. Directorate of Rapeseed-Mustard Research, Bharatpur, Rajasthan,
2. AICRP on rapeseed and mustard Bharatpur, Rajasthan,
Reference
o Field crop production of commercial crops (vol -2) by Rajendra prasad.
o Agronomy facts and competition by R S Meena.
o TNAU Agri portal.
o DRMR website.