Effect of Irradiation on some Quantitative Characters in Barley

Variability induced in quantitative characters by five different doses of X-rays at different dose rates in M₂ generation of barley variety C. 138-2 was studied. Mean, variance, coefficient of variation, skewness (g₁) and kurtosis (g₂) for the characters yield, length of spike and plant height were calculated. The results, indicated that X-irradiation of. seeds particularly at higher doses induced greater variability as compared to the control, The mean yield of grains in the highest dose of 16,500 r was also significantly greater than in the control. These results are discussed in relation to the earlier reports of several workers on the induction of mutations in polygenic systems.