MUTAGENIC EFFECT ON MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS OF SAFFLOWER (CARTHAMUS TINCTORIUS L.) WILD CULTIVAR BY GAMMA IRRADIATION AND EMS

The morphological characters like stem height, Number of branches and number of flowers of Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) wild cultivar observed in plants of M2 generation treated with different doses gamma irradiation and EMS in M1 generation.A number of mutants were recorded in M2 generations for one or more traits viz., stem height, Number of branches and number of flowers were isolated in M2 for M3 generation.Mean values for various characters increased at mutagenic treatment than control.Seeds of Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) wild cultivar were treated with different concentration of physical mutagen such as gamma rays 200 Gy, 300 Gy and 400 Gy (1 Gray per minute) and chemical mutagen such as Ethyl Methanesulfonate (EMS) 0.1 %, 0.2 %, 0.3 % and combination treatments of gamma irradiation and EMS.(200 Gy + 0.1 %, 300 Gy + 0.1 %, 400 Gy + 0.1%, 200 Gy + 0.2%, 300 Gy + 0.2 %, 400 Gy + 0.2 %, 200 Gy + 0.3 %, 300 Gy + 0.3 %, 400 Gy + 0.3 %).The change in stem height, Number of branches and number of flowers were recorded with different concentration values of gamma irradiation 300 Gy and 400 Gy, EMS 0.1 % and 0.3 % and combination treatment of gamma irradiation and EMS 300 Gy + 0.1 %, 400 Gy + 0.1 %, 400 Gy + 0.2 % and 400 Gy + 0.3 % treated population with compared to control plants.