Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Jawaharlal Nehru Agricultural University, Jabalpur 482 004.
1Present address: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru 502 324, A.P.
Several mutants were induced in the chickpea (Cicer arietlnum L.) cultivar JG 315 following seed treatment with ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS). A variegated leaf mutant (named Jawahar Gram Mutant 3 or JGM 3) was isolated in the M2 of 0.4% EMS treatment for 6 h. All leaflets of the variegated leaf mutant showed a large single white lesion on the foliage blade at both sides of the midrib. Each lesion was associated with a constriction at the leaflet margin. Another mutant with apical chlorosis (named JGM 6) was isolated in the M2 of 0.6% EMS treatment for 6 h. In this mutant the young foliage was always yellow at the growing apex while lower leaves developed chlorophyll and turned light green as they grow older. Foliar spray of 0.5% FeSO4 had no effect on the chlorotic foliage although it corrected soil-borne chlorosis in the accession ICC 4992. This shows that the chlorosis in JGM 6 was not a result of iron deficiency. Both mutations were found to be recessive. The genes controlling the variegated leaf and the apical chlorosis traits are assigned symbols var and ach, respectively. Variegated simple leaf segregants were recovered from the F2 of the cross JGM 3 x ICC 10301 (simple leaf) which have ornamental appearance.
Chickpea, apical chlorosis, induced mutation, inheritance, leaf variegation, ornamental chickpea
