Effect of EMS induction on some morphological traits of Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L)

Abstract

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) is the only vegetable crop of significance in the Malvaceae family and is common in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Mutation induction has been accepted as a useful tool in plant breeding programs to provide maximum inheritable variability. During this study, the effect of chemical mutagen Ethyl Methane Sulfonate (EMS) at three levels, 0.175%, 0.350% and 0.525% and two soaking period, 18 and 24 h. studied for variation induction on agronomic traits of okra using factorial experiment in a completely randomized design. In the M2 generation, agronomic traits were recorded including plant height, pod number/plant, pod length, pod diameter, stem thickness, seed number/pod, pod weight, number of locules, 100 seed weight and seed yield/plant. Analysis of variance showed that EMS concentration was significant at the 5% level for pod length, stem thickness and seed yield/plant and was highly significant for plant height, number of locules and 100 seed weight at the 1% probability level. The interaction of dose×soaking duration were significant pod number/plant and seed yield/ plant at 5% level and the characteristic of 100 seed weight was significant at 1% probability level. Application of EMS mutation lead to increased plant height, pod number/plant, pod length, pod diameter, stem thickness, seed number/ pod, number of locules, seed yield/plant and decrease of seed weight in okra. These results demonstrating that EMS could greatly affect the most of studied characters in M2 generation which it would increase the efficiency of the breeding objectives.