Induced Mutagenesis for the Creation of New Starting Material in Sunflower Breeding

Abstract

Abstract The article colligates data of studies on the variability of quantitative and qualitative traits in mutant sunflower M1-M3 generations affected by dimethyl sulfate (DMS) (0.01, 0.05 %) and gamma rays (120; 150 Gy), frequencies and range of mutations in M2 and their inheritance in mutant families, chromosome aberrations in meiosis, as well as on the breeding and genetic value of induced mutants and possibilities of their use in breeding. The methodical peculiarities of the mutational breeding of the cross-pollinating crop were defined, and new mutants with changed features were created. Investigating new homozygous self-pollinated sunflower lines, we observed a more negative mutagenic impact of gamma irradiation (120 and 150 Gy) on the germinability of M1 sunflower seeds in the field compared with the DMS effect (0.01 and 0.05 %). The field germinability of DMS-treated seeds was 83–87 % vs. 11–15 % of gamma-irradiated ones. The mutagenic effect of gamma rays (120 and 150 Gy) on M1 meiosis was shown to be stronger than that of DMS (0.01 and 0.05 %). The percentage of cells with alterations varied within 15.79–18.78 % (120 Gy) and 20.38–25.26 % (150 Gy) compared to 0–0.16 % in the control. The effect of gamma rays on the frequency of morphoses in M1 was stronger, in particular, after exposure to 120 Gy or 150 Gy of gamma irradiation, the number of plants with alterations was 43 %, whereas after DMS treatment (0.01 and 0.05 %) this parameter averaged 27–28 %. We determined the inheritance of mutations of quantitative and qualitative traits, which are important for breeding, in mutant M2 families and selected mutant families with inherited altered traits that can be considered as mutations. Among the best mutations, there are morphological mutants with marker traits, mutants with increased content of oil in seeds, increased 1000-seed weight, increased contents of behenic, linoleic and palmitoleic acids as well as with absolute resistance to downy mildew.