Abstract
This study was undertaken to assess morphological characteristics of rooting, gravitropism, floral fitness, ethylene tolerance, and vase-life of 16 ethylene mutants of snapdragon, generated via seed mutagenesis of the inbred line OAK564 with ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS). This included screening of seedlings of ethylene mutant lines for rooting response following challenge by different levels of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC), gravitropic response of seedlings and mature flowering spikes, seedling response following treatment of greenhouse plants with ethylene, as well as challenge of mature flowering spikes with ethylene along with and without an application of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), a known inhibitor of ethylene action, as well as vase-life evaluations of mature flowering spikes. These mutant lines displayed varied responses for all treatments, with some lines exhibiting enhanced rooting, gravitropism, floral fitness, ethylene tolerance, and longer vase-life than the inbred control OAK564. For all evaluations, these mutants exhibited genetic variability for these various traits; thus, offering opportunities for further breeding efforts to improve these important economic traits in cut snapdragon.
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