Abstract
The present study was carried out to analyse the effect of gamma radiation on morpho-physiological parameters of seven days old M1 seedlings of Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn. (finger millet). The finger millet seeds were irradiated with different doses of viz., 100 Gy, 200 Gy, 300 Gy, 400 Gy, 500 Gy, 600 Gy, 700 Gy, 800 Gy, 900 Gy and 1000 Gy of gamma ray. Higher doses of gamma rays induced substantial reduction in mean performance of morphological and physiological traits. However, lower doses showed stimulatory effects on morphological and physiological traits. The results revealed a progressive decrease in chlorophyll fluorescence with increasing dose of gamma irradiation. Among all the mutagen doses used, 600 Gy gamma irradiated seeds showed enhanced mean performance of morphological and physiological traits in finger millet. Hence 600 Gy gamma rays may be employed in other crop species to improve the agro-economic traits
Highlights
Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn., commonly known as finger millet is one of the major nutritious food crops with high quantities of mineral nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and iron [1]
We investigated the effects of gamma rays on physio-morphological traits and analysed chlorophyll fluorescence of gamma rays treated M1 finger millet seedlings
The apparent variation of 50% reduction in germination was observed at 600 Gy gamma rays treatment (25.33%) as compared to control (45.30%)
Summary
Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn., commonly known as finger millet is one of the major nutritious food crops with high quantities of mineral nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and iron [1]. Genetic variability is one of the primary prerequisites for crop improvement programmes. Mutation breeding is a coherent tool to increase genetic variability and has been successful in the development of thousands of new varieties in hundreds of crop species [6]. Gamma rays are widely preferred physical mutagens that affect plant growth and development by altering the biochemical, physiological and morphological traits [11,12,13]. The highest number of mutants have been developed via the use of gamma rays due to their ability to induce single and double-stranded DNA breaks [14, 15]. Gamma rays deposit energy packets on DNA and cause ionisation and excitation of electrons.
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