Genetic diversity of nuryt-national uniform rape seed yield trial and Brassica napus varieties using rapd markers and biochemical analysis

In pakistan,brassica is the second most important source of oil after cotton. seventeen nuryt (national uniform rape seed yield trial) lines and 5 brassica napus varieties were assessed through rapd primers and biochemical assays. seven different randomly amplified polymorphic dna markers (rapd) were employed during the present study. a total of 30 rapd bands were scored by these primers. size of the scorable fragments ranged from approximately 250 to 2000 bp. diversity index was estimated to be 42%. mean genetic distance estimates ranged between 0.10 and 1.00. for the assessment of various biochemical parameters,near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (nirs) was used. oil content ranged from 38.30 to 49% and protein content from 19.80 to 29.10% among the 22 genotypes. maximum protein content was assayed in genotype rbn 3046 while minimum in hyola 405. glucosinolates ranged between 2 and 84% for genotype crh 60/08 and crh05/08 showing the maximum and minimum values respectively. oleic acid (52 to 72.5%),linolenic acid (7.07 and 9.90%) and erucic acid content (9.57 to 38.3%) was also recorded during the present study.