Effect of different doses of gamma rays for induction of mutation in bougainvillea cv Mahatma Gandhi

Abstract

An experiment of physical mutation was conducted on bougainvillea cv. Mahatma Gandhi at 0, 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000 rads of gamma rays. The trial was carried out at the Division of Floriculture and Landscaping, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi from July 2011 to September 2012. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with four replications. The analyzed results indicated that after three months of planting, reduced sprouting percentage was recorded with increased dose of gamma rays. The minimum survival of plants (41.00%) was observed at higher dose, i.e. 2000 rads and followed by 1500 rads (59.50%), 1000 rads (71.50%) and 500 rads (94.00%) respectively. In irradiated plants, difference in all the growth and floral characters was observed as compared to control. The unusual type of morphological abnormalities was observed in plant height which was drastically reduced as compared to control. The other growth characters such as number of branches/plant, length of sub-branch, number of leaves/branch, length of leaves, width of leaves, length of petiole, length of internodes, length of flower tube, length of bract, length of thorn and number of thorns/ branch were found statistically significant as compared to control. It was also observed that the cuttings treated with higher dose of 2000 rads were small and has taken more days for sprouting (62.75 day). Reduction in sprouting, survival of plants, plant height, number of branches, leaf number and size and different abnormalities were observed with increased exposure to gamma rays.