1Division of Fruit Crops, ICAR- Central Institute for Sub-Tropical Horticulture, Lucknow
2Division of Fruit Crops, ICAR- Indian Institute of Horticultural Institute, Bengaluru
3Agriculture College Naria, Srikakulam
Mutation is one of the most important tools employed by breeders around the world to develop new desirable trait specific recombinants by widening the genetic base. In papaya, tree height is one of the problems in harvesting. One of the varieties Pusa Nanha was developed by mutation breeding (Mansha Ram, 1984). However, there are no dwarf statured gynodioecious varieties. Hence, an attempt was made to create variability for plant height and other characters in the varieties Arka Surya and Arka Prabhath by using chemical mutagen, EMS. The LD 50 was observed at 0.3 per cent EMS. Maximum germination percent was recorded in control followed by 0.1 percent EMS +KNO3. Soaking of seeds for 2 hr gave better germination compared to soaking the seeds for 4 hr. It was observed that EMS at 0.2 per cent along with KNO3 can induce dwarf stature. In the case of the variety Arka Surya, 0.3 per cent EMS resulted in maximum plant height followed by control. In Arka Prabhath the maximum plant height was observed under control followed by 0.3 per cent EMS. EMS in combination with KNO3 gave better results compared to seeds soaked in EMS alone. Reduction in plant height was observed in both the varieties, Arka Surya and Arka Prabhath when treated with 0.2 per cent EMS +KNO3. In the M0 generation, many morphological abnormalities like branching, bending of petiole were also observed, which showed that there is good possibility of creating variability through induced mutations. The progenies were also evaluated in M1 generation to record the variability particularly in plant height.
Mutation, EMS, Variability, Trait Specific
