Abstract

Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) is the world’s top oilseed crop, and mutation breeding is a vital technology for its improvement. In this study, seeds of vegetable soybean varieties Himso 1563 and TS 82 were treated with gamma rays and EMS to recover desirable mutants. The treated seeds were sown in the field to raise the M1 generation, and biological parameters such as germination, survival, and fertility were recorded. In the M2 generation, lethal chlorophyll mutations were screened during the first 5 weeks after germination, while viable chlorophyll and morphological mutations were scored throughout the crop duration. Mutation frequency was calculated as the percentage of mutated M2 progenies for both chlorophyll and morphological mutations in each treatment. Mutagenic effectiveness and efficiency were computed. it was found that mutagenic efficiency increased with dose/concentration in most treatments. Compared to gamma rays, lower concentrations of EMS were more efficient, while medium and higher doses of gamma rays were more efficient than medium and higher concentrations of EMS. In both mutagens, characters such as sterility, lethality, and injury increased with increased doses/concentrations. This work was also done by Gupta and Sharma in soybean. The study concluded that EMS is more effective for the production of chlorophyll mutants, while gamma rays are more effective for viable mutants.

Keywords: Oilseed crop, mutation breeding and lethal chlorophyll mutations