Effect of chemical mutagen (Ethyl methane sulfonate) on Money plant (Epipremnum aureum)

Abstract

Epipremnum aureum, commonly known as pothos, is a hardy indoor foliage ornamental crop. Mutation breeding in Golden pothos is needed to meet the demand for more valuable and highly sought-after cultivars. The present  study aimed to exploit variability on various parameters viz. new leaf emergence, survival percentage, plant height, length and width of leaves. The experiment was set up using a Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with 8 treatments and 3 replications. Rooted cuttings of Golden pothos were treated with varying concentrations of Ethyl Methane Sulfonate (EMS) for 4 hours, and a control treatment was included. The results showed that all the treated cuttings with EMS delays the new leaf emergence period compared to the control. Compared to the control, the minimum number of new leaf emergences was found in EMS-treated plants. The maximum survival percentage (100%) was recorded in 0.1%, 0.5% and control treatment. The lowest plant height (15.3 cm ) was observed in treatment T4 (1.5 % EMS) treated plants. However, maximum plant height was observed in the control treatment at 150 days of interval. In comparison to the control, EMS decreased the length and width of leaves at higher dosages. The minimum leaf length and width, i.e. 2.40 cm and 1.20 cm, were recorded in plants treated with EMS at 2%, while maximum length and width were observed in control and low EMS-treated plants.   The  study showed that ethyl methane sulfonate affected plant development characteristics and showed some dwarfness of money plants.  This appears to be the first report of EMS treatment on pothos.