Molecular profiling of chickpea mutants isolated from EMS and gamma rays treatments

Abstract

Conventional mutation breeding techniques have often been used to improve yield, disease and pest resistance in crop plants. In the present attempt, two well-known mutagenic agents ethyl methane sulphonate and EMS were employed in order to induce genetic variability variety of chick pea Co -4 obtained from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. The seeds were treated with different concentrations of EMS (10-50 mM) and Gamma rays (20-60 kR). A total of 369 mutants which alter the height, leaf structure, colour of flower, seed, size of pod, duration of the plant were isolated and characterized. Among them, five true breeding mutants namely Early flowering mutant (EFM), Bold pod mutant (BPM), Bold seed mutant BSM), High yielding mutant (HYM) and High protein content mutant (HPC), which directly influenced the economic value of the crop were selected for further study. The results revealed a significant positive increase in the qualitative traits among the mutant lines. The RAPD profiling of isolated mutants revealed a total of 129 bands, among them 92 were polymorphic with an average of 70.99 percentage of polymorphism. Apart from 28 bands, all the bands seemed to be mutation. The presence of new bands and absence of existing bands might be the reason for quality improvement of chickpea. The RAPD is considered as an excellent marker to differentiate mutants from their parents, to assess genetic variation and phylogenetic relationship.