II. 31. Curly mutant in two-rowed barley.
Avinash Chandra and K. H. Makde, Department of Botany, Dharampeth Mahavidyalaya, Nagpur-440010, India.
Irradiation is well recognized as an important technique of crop improvement. Several commercial varieties have been developed through mutation breeding in different crops. In barley, curly leaf mutant was previously reported in six-rowed types by Sharma (1968). However, such reports are not available so far on two-rowed types. In the present investigation, a curly leaf and awned mutant in two-rowed barley is being reported.
Genetically pure, dry (8.1% moisture) and dormant seeds of two-rowed barley (Hordeum distichum L.) var. Clipper were exposed to 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 and 50 kR doses of 60Co gamma-rays, 2.2 kR per minute intensity, at the Division of Genetics, I.A.R.I., New Delhi. One thousand seeds from each treatment including control were sown in the research farm during the winter season of 1975-76. Curly mutant was procured from 20 kR dose and recognizable at 2-3 leaf stage, due to dark green leaf and typical wavy whitish extension of auricles over the leaf margin of 2 cm. In later stages it becomes curly in nature till maturity in M1 generation. Mutant was further tested for its homozygosity in M2, M3, M4 and M5 generations. Seeds of mutant along with the control were sown in the field in randomized block design with four replications in the last generation. Data were taken from ten randomly chosen plants in each replication.
Table 1. Growth and yield parameters of curly mutant along with control.
Mean values of yield and its components of curly mutants (Figs. 3,4) along with control (Figs. 1,2) are presented in Table 1. Mutant has been considered as a short statured (42.14 cm) with desirable combination of more effective tillers per plant (41.43) associated with thick, dark green and broad leaves, which can make efficient use of solar radiation for assimilation resulting in higher yield per plant (38.01 gm). Due to short stature, it is perfectly lodging resistant and may be utilized in breeding programmes for imparting this character to release the varieties of barley.
Acknowledgment:
The authors are highly grateful to Principal, V. B. Phatak for providing facilities.
Reference:
Sharma, R. P. 1968. Cytogenetic studies of the combined effect of physical and chemical mutagens. Ph.D. thesis, Agra University, Agra.
