Abstract
<i>Amaranthus caudatus</i> play an important role against hunger and malnutrition that occur due to low rain fall conditions, gaining a wide attention in food and medicinal industry. Being a versatile plant in terms of its nutritional value the improvement of this plant with reference to germination, growth and yield is still uncharacterized. Therefore the present investigation is carried out to determine the influence of gamma radiation in modifying germination, growth and yield attributes of <i>Amaranthus caudatus</i>. The air dried seeds were exposed to different gamma irradiation doses (10KR, 20KRC, 40KRC and 80KRC) using <sup>60</sup>Co source, sowing was carried out in a complete randomized block design, and the observations were taken upto M2 generation. The results showed that the influence of different doses of gamma irradiation on germination parameters was significant in M1 and M2 generations. The influence on the survival percentage was obtained in both M1 and M2 generation, and highest percentage of survival was recorded under 20KRC in both M1 and M2 generations. The average yield per plant in M1 and M2 generations were observed higher under 20KRC dose level of gamma irradiations. The gamma irradiation treatment showed significant enhancement in different growth parameters in both M1 and M2 generations. Also, it was observed that the growth and yield in M2 generation across all doses was better than M1 generation.
Highlights
Amaranthus caudatus is underutilized pseudo cereal that can play an important role against hunger and malnutrition that occur due to low rainfall conditions
The dose regime selection was based on the previous studies treatment on genus Albizia, Bauhinia and Robinia [16,17] where significant results on different germination and growth attributes were recorded under different gamma irradiation treatments
In order to observe the transmission of the modifications in different morpho-agronomic characteristics induced by different gamma irradiation doses in Amaranthus caudatus, the experiment was carried upto M2 generation for which the seeds of M1 generation for each treatment were collected and sown in the field following the methodology as designed for M1 generation
Summary
Amaranthus caudatus (family Amaranthaceae) is underutilized pseudo cereal that can play an important role against hunger and malnutrition that occur due to low rainfall conditions. It is a broad-leafed non-grass plants that produce significant amounts of edible cereal like grains having an exceptional nutritive value. The seeds contain large amounts of dietary fiber, iron, and calcium. In order to feed the world, the projected target is to double food production by 2050. To fulfill these objective plants with better growth and yield should be preferred. Gamma rays induced crop improvement is one which has shown a possible gain in the germination, morphoagronomic traits of different agriculture crops within less time
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
