Influence of Radiation and Chemically Induced Sterility on Mutation Frequency and Spectrum in Barley

Seeds of barley (var. N.P. 104) were treated with gamma-rays (40 kR). and chemical mutagens (EMS 0.3% and NMU 0.01%) with a view to studying the relationship between M₁ seed sterility and chlorophyll mutation frequency in M₂ generation. The results obtained suggest that the capacity of an agent to induce mutations may not have a similar bearing on plant fertility. Further, the spikes having different degrees of fertility give different mutation frequencies and spectrum. The relationship between these parameters, however, has been shown to be dependent upon the type of mutagen used.