Effectiveness and Efficiency of Physical and Chemical Mutagens on Cumin (Cuminum cyminumL.)

Abstract

The mutagenic effectiveness and efficiency of gamma rays, ethyl methane sulphonate, methyl methane sulphonate and Sodium azide and their combinations were estimated on two cumin (Cuminum cyminum L) genotypes, RZ-19 and RZ 209. In case of their sole treatments, the germination reduced linearly with increase in the doses. Gamma rays severely affected the germination. Based on reduction in germination the LD50 values for chemical mutagens appeared to be slightly less than 0.6% for ethyl methane sulphonate, 0.06% for methyl methane sulphonate and 0.6 mM for Sodium azide. Chemical mutagens either as sole or as combination treatments had less severe effect on plant survival than gamma rays. Pollen sterility ranged between 10% to 22%. Gamma rays caused more sterility than chemical mutagens. The efficiency of mutagenic treatments showed that on RZ 209 gamma rays was most efficient at 70 kR whereas on RZ 19 it was 60 kR.