Induced Mutations a Tool to Creat New Variations: A Case Study of M3 Generation of Green Gram [Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek]

The objective of induced mutations direct or indirect is to create new variations in the crops where it does not exist naturally. Especially in the self-pollinated crops i.e. most of the cereals, and legumes. Therefore, here in this case study we have presented mutation breeding used to induce quantitative variability in M3 generation of green gram of two excellent variety GM-4 and Meha with a view to study effect various mutagen and for the estimation of genetic variability parameters like GCV, PCV, Heritability and Genetic advance percent of mean for characters like as seed yield per plant and chlorophyll content. The analysis of variance in M3 generation for progeny within family indicated highly significant difference for plant height and chlorophyll content for majority of progenies. For all characters, phenotypic coefficient of variation was higher than genotypic coefficient of variation indicating that there was environmental influence on these traits.

The Field experiment was conducted at Instructional Farm, COA, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh during the Summer-2015. The experimental material consisted of M2 derived M3 seeds of sixty-six M3 progeny lines (64 mutant + 2 controls). The progeny lines were selected on the basis of yield and its associated characters from M2 generation. Each progeny line is an individual’s plant seed.

Experimental carried out to study the effect of mutation of M2 derived M3 seeds for various characters. M2 generation consists of two base varieties (GM-4 and meha) and two base mutagens (gamma rays and EMS). The analysis of variance between family revealed that families differed significantly for chlorophyll content while non-significant for seed yield per plant. GCV and PCV were higher in all the mutagenic family with respect to control for both the characters as well as for both the variety. The phenotypic coefficient of variation for both characters was larger than the genotypic coefficient of variation, showing that these features were influenced by the environment. All of the mutagenic families showed increased heritability, and higher genetic advancement was also seen. The results for heritability were pooled, and it was clear that these traits were governed by additive genetic effects given the high estimates of heritability and genetic advance that were scored for seeds per plant.

Mutagenic progenies with additive gene effect can be selected for improvement of desirable traits in mungbean. Outcome of the present investigation can be used directly as a variety or parental lines for future hybridization programme, as majority of progeny lines showed homogeneity for most of the characters and induced mutagenesis plays an important role in improvement of crops like green gram.