Induce physical and chemical mutagenesis for improvement of yield attributing traits and their correlation analysis in Chickpea

In the current scenario of sky high population and widespread food insecurity, there is an urgent need for productivity improvement of major crops like pulses, one of the most climate friendly and accessible foods for the large poor population of the world. Chickpea is an important pulse crop, having high percentage of nutritional content and is widely used as food across the world. Induced mutagenesis has proved over time as a coherent tool for modern plant breeders to improve the productivity for combating the food insecurity and malnutrition across the globe. Dry and healthy seeds of Cicer arietinum L. var. C-235 were treated with individual and combination doses of gamma rays, sodium azide and hydrazine hydrate to raise the M₁ generation. M₂ seeds harvested from M₁ plants were sown in the nest season. Bio-physiological study in M1 generation showed growth inhibition in the order viz. combination treatment>hydrazine hydrate>gamma rays>sodium azide. In M₂ generation, comparative observations were recorded for morphological variation and quantitative traits to assess the genetic response of the chickpea variety C-235 toward the different concentrations of mutagens. Observations on isolated mutants in M₂ generation revealed that 0.3% HZ + 0.02% SA was most mutagenic while 200 Gy, 0.03% SA and 0.2% HZ were highest in their individual treatment groups. In context to the frequency of morphological mutants studied in M₂ generation, dwarf mutants were found to be highest followed by tall and branching pattern mutants. Highly significant correlation coefficient between yield and other traits showed that the selection for high yielding mutants can be done on the basis of these traits undoubtedly.