Induced polygenic variability in different groups of mutagenic damage in lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.)

Abstract

Dry, healthy and uniform seeds of a macrosperma lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) cv., 'Precoz Selection' were treated with three doses (0.005, 0.01 and 0.02%) each of ethylene imine (EI) and N-nitroso-N-ethyl urea (NEU) and gamma rays (5, 10 and 20 kR). In M1, different groups of mutagenic damage were identified in each treatment viz., low seedling damage and low sterility (LL), high seedling damage and low sterility (HL), low seedling damage and high sterility (LH), and high seedling damage and high sterility (HH). Effective selection was attempted in M2 based on desired shift in character mean and higher CV than the highest observed in the control, followed by identification of M3 families with higher me,an than the highest in the control. Among the mutagens tested, NEU induced the highest frequencies of mutated and promising progenies with multiple characters In both the M2 and M3, followed by EI and gamma rays, and different groups of mutagenic damage were observed to follow the pattern: HH > HL > LH > LL in the M2 and HH > LL in the M3•