The Indian Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding

Induced mutation studies were carried out in violet blue (VB) and red purple (RP) cultivars of Ipomoea prpurea, differing markedly in corolla morphology. Chemical mutagens selected were ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS), sodium azide (SA) and N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (NMG). Treatments were administered by soaking dry, 6 h pre-soaked water (PSW) and 8 h PSW seeds in aqueous mutagenic solutions. M₁ generation seeds were collected capsule wise and sown to raise M₂ generation. M₂ population was screened for chlorophyll, flower colour and floral morpological mutations. SA and NMG have induced useful new mutations in both the cultivars. The differences in the mutagenicity observed in two cultivars has been attributed to the variations in the microgenomic architecture.