Rape & mustard are one of the most important sources of vegetable oil after palm and soybean in the world and cotton in Pakistan. The development of canola quality rapeseed has made rapeseed one of the major plant oil sources at the global level with constant tendency to increase its share in production of oilseeds. In Pakistan, it is grown as tradition oilseed crop but its production per unit area is low. Domestic production of edible oil from all traditional and non-traditional oilseeds is only sufficient to meet around one fourth of local demand, remaining requirement is met through heavy imports. There are many factors responsible for low yield, but the most important one is the non-availability of high yielding varieties. The oilseed group of NIFA is making endeavors for developing/evolving high-yielding and environment-smart varieties of these crops. |
