Determination of mutagenic-sensitivity and induced variability in the mutant populations of ‘Bacardi’ chrysanthemum cultivar

Mutation breeding is one of the most important breeding method for ornamental plants. Chrysanthemum is the genus that has the richest mutant varieties in ornamental plants. The objective of this study is to create variation by gamma irradiation and improving traits by mutation breeding. For this aim, in vitro bud explants of white Bacardi variety were irradiated by gamma radiation at 20 Gy (Gray). In vitro subcultures were continued until M1V4 period and observations were obtained in this period. Some changes were observed on heights and flowers of the plants such as; variable flowers, flowering time, differentiation on plant length, flower number per bunch and ray floret differentiations. The changes of the ray florets were determined as color changes to pink and yellow. Mutation frequency was calculated by 1.1% of the population. Approximately 0.9% of useful mutant lines determined from the selected mutants.