Study of Genetic Variability in Sugarcane Induced through Mutation Breeding

Three sugarcane clones viz., NI-98, NIA-2004 and BL4 were tested for induced somatic mutation using irradiation doses of 0, 10, 20, 30, and 40Gy. The treatments 30Gy and 40Gy exhibited negative impact on the agronomic traits under study. The dose 20Gy showed stimulating and enhancing effect on plant height and cane yield (kg/plot). The analysis of variance (mean square) for all the characters under study revealed that all the radiation doses were significantly different (P ≤ 0.5). Genetic advance at 2% selection intensity was about two fold higher than that at 30% selection intensity and intermediate at 10% selection intensity. High heritability percentage in broad sense was recorded. Variability obtained from mutation breeding was also examined through molecular marker techniques (RAPD), most similar sugarcane mutants (20 Gy) were P1 and P4 (85%) while most dissimilar mutants were P3 and Parent (38%).