Mushtaq Ahmad Khah and Rakesh Chandra Verma
The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of different doses of gamma radiations on various morphological and agronomic traits of common wheat in order to identify the most effective radiation dose which can be applied for successful mutagenic research studies. For this purpose, dry and healthy seeds of ‘WH-147’ bread wheat cultivar were exposed to different doses of gamma radiations (5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 kR) at the Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC), Mumbai. All the traits studied showed a gradual decrease in their mean values with the increasing intensity of gamma radiations except in 15 kR at which spike number per plant and seed weight showed some increment over the control sets. It has been concluded from the study that higher radiation doses (25 kR and 30 kR) have reduced mean values and increased quantitative variability for most of the traits studied which could be successfully employed in mutation breeding for the improvement of this important cereal crop.
