Lysine and Protein Characterization of Induced Shrunken Endosperm Mutants of Barley1

Abstract

‘Bomi’, Risø mutants 7, 8, 9, 13, and 1508 and ‘Carlsberg II’, Risø mutants 29, 56 and 86, induced high lysine shrunken endosperm and/or low kernel weight mutants of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), were compared to their respective normal isotypes for kernel weight, protein, and lysine contents in several varied environments in Montana and Arizona. All mutants were lower in kernel weight and higher in lysine content, and six of the mutants were higher in protein content, with a relatively wide range of mutant‐normal differences for each character. Most of the mutants should maintain a positive mutant‐normal difference in lysine percentage if normal kernel weights were achieved through breeding efforts. Both modes of mutagenesis, induced and spontaneous, and two methods of selection, chemical (for high lysine) and visual (for shrunken endosperm), have produced a similar spectrum of high lysine, shrunken endosperm mutants.