Biological effects of gamma rays on M1 generation of ricebean {Vigna umbellata (Thunb.) Ohwi and Ohashi} Singh N.B.*, Devi Th. Renuka Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, College of Agriculture, CAU, Imphal-795 004, Manipur, India. *Author for correspondence.
Abstract Three local ricebean varieties, viz., RBM-6, RBM-13 and RBM-31 were treated with 5 gamma ray doses of 0, 150, 300, 450 and 600 GY and their biological effects were studied in M1 generation for 15 characters. Out of 15 characters studied, the characters, viz., seed germination, seedling survival, root length and seed fertility were, in general, reduced with the increase of gamma ray doses; while the characters viz., seed yield and its components, i.e., days to flowering, days to maturity, number of primary branches per plant, number of pods per plant, number of clusters per plant, number of seeds per pod, 100 grain weight and grain yield per plant showed random effect revealing that the former group of characters were important for the study of gamma ray sensitivity in M1 generation of ricebean. The response of the varieties differentially to gamma ray for many of the characters under study also suggested that mutagen sensitivity of ricebean to gamma ray was dependent on genotype. Top |