INDUCED CHLOROPHYLL AND MORPHOLOGICAL MUTAnONS IN MUNGBEAN

Abstract

The present investigation was undertaken to study the effect of three mutagens viz., gamma rays, ethylmethane sulphonate (EMS) and epichlorhydrin (ECH) on growth and development of seedlings and their standardization for maximizing and widening the frequency and spectrum of mutations in mungbean. The uniform healthy and dry seeds (moisture, 9.0%) of green gram cv. PS 16 were exposed to 20, 30 and 40 kR doses of gamma rays (Source 60Co). In case of chemical treatments the seeds were soaked in solution of ethylmethane sulphonate (0.05, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3%) and epichlorhydrin (0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4%) freshly prepared in 0.1 M phosphate buffer pH 7.4 for 6 h at 25 ± ICC The treated seeds were dipped in 5% aqueous solution of sodium thiosulphate for 10 minutes to stop the action of mutagen and then washed thoroughly with running water. The seeds were sown in field immediately after treatment. Seeds soaked in phosphate buffer pH 7.4 for 6 h were used as control. All the M1 plants from each treatment were harvested and seeds were bulked treatment wise to grow a representative bulk M2 generation. M2 population of each treatment was subjected to screen for chlorophyll and other viable mutations. Chlorophyll mutations were scored and classified as per Blixt [1].