Evaluation and characterization of EMS induced mutant population of Gossypium herbaceum

• Published in: Vegetos - International journal of plant research 2022-12, Vol.35 (4), p.1036-1046
• Main Authors: Kumar, Umesh, Chavan, Nilesh S., Sawant, Samir V., Kumar Yadav, Hemant
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Life Sciences; Plant Anatomy/Development; Plant Breeding/Biotechnology; Plant Physiology
• ISSN: 2229-4473; 2229-4473
• DOI: 10.1007/s42535-022-00385-4

Gossypium herbaceum is reported to have innate adaptability to withstand biotic and abiotic stresses. However, the continued selection for desired traits eliminates the rare alleles from advanced cultivars and makes the species vulnerable to several stresses. The induced mutagenesis expands the genetic basis of the existing germplasm. In the present study, 5500 seeds of G. herbaceum (cv. WAGAD) were treated by 70 mM ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS), established 2597 fertile M 1 plants, which were used in development of 6600 M 2 plants followed by 5473 M 3 plants. About 5% of the plants showed visible mutant phenotypes like sterility, chlorosis, altered leaf morphology and early flowering/late flowering. The phenotypic evaluation of 4453 plants for 11 agro-morphological traits revealed significant variations. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) profiling of a random set of 150 M 3 plants revealed the considerable level of mutation in the genome. The developed mutant population could serve as an important genetic resource for forward and reverse genetic studies. Further, the potential mutant plants could also be used for pyramiding targeted traits and consequently for developing new high yielding varieties.