Effects of dosage and durations of different mutagenic treatment in lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) cultivars Pant L 406 and DPL 62

Abstract

In order to broaden the genetic base of lentil, induced chemical mutagenesis was performed. Dry and healthy seeds of lentil cultivars Pant L 406 and DPL 62 were treated with 0.02% MMS (6hrs), 0.04% MMS (6hrs), 0.02% MMS (9hrs) and 0.04% MMS (9hrs) prepared in sodium phosphate buffer at 7.0 pH for 6 hours at room temperature. Bio-physiological observations showed almost a direct relationship with the MMS concentrations and treatment duration, where inhibition and sterility increases with increase in concentration and duration. The 0.02% and 0.04% for 6 hrs treatments of MMS were found effective in inducing sufficient genetic variability in both the cultivars of lentil especially for selection of yield attributing traits, and 0.04% for 9 hrs induced higher desirable phenotypic variations with few unique phenotypes of future interest, whereas 0.04% for 9 hrs found to have highest lethal dose value and % variations in the all variant small survival population. Plant habit and leaf morphology were found most sensitive phenotypic category towards the MMS doses used. Also the character association between yield and other agronomic traits were altered and improved due to the mutagenic treatments. Overall, the results were promising and useful for future crop improvement work on lentil.