Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur, M.P.
1Present address: International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics, Begumpet, 1-11-256, Hyderabad.
Online published on 25 January, 2012.
The present investigation was undertaken with a view to induce earliness in two late maturing varieties, viz. Jagannath and Rexero-R 11 by seed treatment with 0–5% E.M.S. for 6, 12 and 24 hours duration. Range for days to heading was much higher in the treated population (86 to 139 days) as compared to control (116 to 128 days) in case of variety Jagannath. Maximum variability as expressed by mean, variance and standard deviation was observed in 12 hours treatment.
In M4 and M5 generation 11 early maturing mutants (5 from Jagannath and 6 from Rexero-R 11) were tested in replicated yield trials along with a standard variety RP 5–3. Mutants flowered 17 to 30 days earlier than the parents and were found to give higher yield than the parent varieties.
Three mutants from Jagannath and one from Rexero-Rll gave higher yield than the standard check RP 5–3. Jagannath mutant number 6 was not only earliest (122 days) and significantly higher yielder (6689 kg./ha.) than RP 5–3 (5219 kg./ha.) but also combined fine grain quality.
