Abstract
Sodium Azide (SA)-induced mutagenic variability was studied on four tomato varieties namely Roma vf, Roma savannah, Tropimech and Tima. The SA concentrations used were 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5% and 0.7%, with 0.0% as control to determine the percentage emergence and growth parameters of the tomato varieties. The plant seeds were pretreated with the various concentrations of the mutagen before planting. The seedlings were raised in the nursery and transplanted after 30 days of planting into the field in polythene bags filled with 70g of a mixture of soil and farm yard manure. The experiment was carried out in randomised complete block design with three replicates. Increase in SA concentration caused a remarkable decrease in the percentage emergence and all other growth parameters evaluated. The effect of the interaction between variety and SA concentration revealed that the interaction was not significantly different from the control at P≤0.05 on the number of leaves, number of branches and leaf length, but the difference was significant for plant height. Formation of two stems was observed at 0.3% Sodium Azide for Roma vf. variety. The 0.1% and 0.3% concentrations of Sodium Azide seem to be promising treatments under the experimental conditions and thus could be used to induce variations for tomato crop improvement. Tima and Roma savannah performed better and were resistant to the mutagen than other varieties, hence they can be recommended as good varieties for further breeding purposes; also Sodium Azide could be a good mutagen for the improvement of tomato plants.
 Keywords: Tomato, growth characters, mutagenic, Sodium Azide, morphological variability.
Highlights
Plants are source of life for animals, as they constitute the primary producers of the ecosystem (Ilbas, et al, 2002)
From the results obtained on percentage emergence of the tomato varieties treated with Sodium Azide, There was a remarkable decrease in percentage emergence as the concentration of Sodium Azide increased with
The results obtained from this study showed that Sodium Azide can lead to a decrease in percentage emergence, reduced seedling root length, reduced plant height, and less number of leaves, branches and decrease in stem girth as the treatment level increases
Summary
Plants are source of life for animals, as they constitute the primary producers of the ecosystem (Ilbas, et al, 2002). According to Krishma (2007), they are regarded as a source to three basic needs of man namely clothing, shelter and food. Humans obtain 85% of their calories from 20 plant species and 60% from just three grasses (De- Lannoy, 2001). The Federal Agricultural Organization yearbook (FAO, 2010) recorded that tomato is the 11th most cultivated plant used as food. Aminu et al, (2017) and Dhaliwal et al, (2002) affirmed that tomatoes as a cultivated crop is of high importance in some countries, while in other parts of the world it has witnessed a lot of negligence. Vitamins and antioxidants in tomatoes are essential for a healthy body; Lycopene and bioflavonoid which are in close relation with beta carotene are good antioxidants found in tomatoes and they express the natural cancer-fighting properties (De- Lannoy, 2001)
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