The mustard plant is a plant species in the genera Brassica and Sinapis in the family Brassicaceae.
Mustard seed is used as a spice. Grinding and mixing the seeds with water, vinegar, or other liquids creates the yellow condiment known as prepared mustard.
The seeds can also be pressed to make mustard oil, and the edible leaves can be eaten as mustard greens.
In Pakistan after cottonseed, rapeseed-mustard is the second most important source of edible oil in Pakistan.
It is cultivated over an area of 307,000 hectares with annual production of 233,000 tonnes and contribute about 17% to the domestic production of edible oil.
Rapeseed and mustard seed is a rich source of oil and protein. The seed has oil as high as 46-48 percent, Whole seed meal has 43.6 percent protein. Rapeseed meal is an excellent feed for animals.
Rapeseed is well adapted in temperate region and requires cool temperature for vegetative and reproductive growth. The growth cycle of rapeseed may be as short as 70 days or long as 380 days.
Rapeseed and Mustard grow best under relatively cool temperatures up to flowering. After flowering they can tolerate high temperature, however, more heat and drought stress may result in a reduction of seed size, crop yield & oil contents.
Among rape and mustard crops, sarson is the most susceptible to frost injury whereas,’raya’ and taramira are more tolerant to extreme weather condition.
The planting schedule for different areas is as follows: KPK: Mid-Sep to mid Oct, Punjab: 1st Oct to 1st Nov, South Punjab: Mid-Oct to mid Nov, Sindh: Mid-Oct to mid Nov, and Balochistan: Mid-Oct to mid Nov.