AbstractThe present investigation was undertaken on four W. German (AD201, Belinda, Korina and Elvira) and five French (Cresor, Brutor, BRO, BRIO and Orpal) spring rapeseed varieties, for evaluation and to study their performance and productivity under Fayoum (Egypt) conditions during two successive winter seasons (1982/1983 and 1983/1984). In order to make clear identification for different plant characters, some genetical parameters were estimated.In the first season, the nine varieties were arranged into a randomized complete block field experiment with four replications. In the second one, the experiment (with the same design and replication) included only six cultivars, after elimination of three winter‐type (Belinda, Korina and Elvira) that failed to reach flowering because of unique cold temperature requirements. Therefore, the present study was restricted with the remainder six varieties.The varieties exhibited considerable differences in all the characters studied. AD201 was earlier, higher seed‐ and oil‐yielding variety than other tested ones. Its superiority could be attributed to increased number of pods/plant, seeds/pod and seed yield/plant. The second yielding variety was BR1O followed by Cresor, BRO and Brutor. While Orpal was inferior in all characters except for seed index. Data showed that fruiting zone length reached nearly half the mature height for each genotype.Remarkable amount of genotypic variation and high heritability estimates were recorded for all studied characters. Quantitative analysis indicated that number of seeds/pod, early flowering, seed weight/plant, possessed high heritability values combined with high genetic gains and wide genetic variations. By these characters, discernible improvement could be easily achieved through phenotypic selection in relatively very short