Under conservation and maintenance of silkworm genetic resources, a total of 475 (83 multivoltine, 369 bivoltine and 23 mutants) silkworm germplasm accessions were conserved in disease free conditions after thorough characterization and evaluation. Based on the performance, 20 exotic bivoltine accessions were shortlisted from the available germplasm resources which include top ten each of oval and dumb-bell accessions. These accessions were evaluated at temperate zone (Pampore, Jammu & Kashmir) during autumn and spring season for two years and data on rearing and reeling performance was collected. The analyzed data revealed that the exotic bivoltine accessions that spun oval cocoons viz. BBE-0201 and BBE-0329 and that spun dumbbell cocoons, viz., BBE-0197, BBE-0267 and BBE-0268 were better combiners with CSR2 and CSR4 respectively and exhibited greater efficacy during two different seasons (autumn season & spring season) in temperate region. These breeds can be utilized for single and double hybrid preparation for commercial utilization at field level in temperate regions of India

Background: Indian mustard (Brassica juncea (L.) Czern & Coss.) is an important oil seed crop grown in rabi season, extensively grown in Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. The present research is carried out on 40 Indian mustard genotypes to identify the genetically diverse genotypes and using them in further breeding programme that aimed to improve yield and yield attributing characters. Methods: These genotypes are evaluated under randomized block design with three replications and observations were recorded from five randomly selected plants for 14 quantitative traits from each replication that are effective to identify yield potential from the forty genotypes and the experiment is conducted at field experimentation center, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj during rabi 2019-20. A detailed analysis of the results on Indian mustard varieties are studied using different statistical tools in this project. Results: Analysis of variance revealed that all the traits have significant variability and thus have adequate scope for the selection of superior genotypes that can be used in further research. Higher estimates of GCV and PCV were recorded for number of secondary branches and number of siliquae per plant; indicating that these characters could be selection tools for yield improvement. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percent mean is observed in number of secondary branches and test weight (g) indicating the scope for their improvement through selection. The 40 genotypes are grouped into V clusters using Torcher’s method of clustering. Among the 5 clusters, cluster III has maximum genotypes (13), followed by cluster II (11), cluster I has 7 genotypes and cluster IV has 5 genotypes followed by cluster V (3) with least number of genotypes. The maximum intra-cluster distance is observed for cluster V (4.43) followed by cluster I (3.87) and cluster IV (3.77). From the cluster mean values, using of genotypes from cluster I and cluster IV in crossing programme will give desirable recombinants for early maturity along with seed yield per plant. Diversity analysis also revealed that cluster I and cluster V has the highest inter-cluster distance (7.92) followed by cluster IV and V (7.66) indicating that the genotypes of these clusters have maximum diversity and crossing programme between these clusters will yield better segregants. Euclidean distance matrix also suggests that the crosses of Jagannath × RGN 236, BR 40 × RB 50 and Jagannath × Pusa Bold are expected to give better yield segregants.