Physical and Chemical Mutagenesis in Jatropha Curcas L. to Induce Variability in Seed Germination, Growth and Yield Traits

The studies of induced mutation in Jatropha curcas were performed by exposing the healthy and dry seeds to gamma rays viz., 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 Kr doses and ethyl methanesulphonate (EMS) viz., 1, 2, 3 and 4 %. The observations were made for seed germination percentage, growth and yield characters such as root length, shoot length, seedling length and vigour index, plant height, petiole length, days to first flowering, days taken for flowering to fruiting, days taken for fruiting to maturity, total number of flowers per inflorescence, number of fruit bunches per plant and number of fruits per bunch in the treated plants. Seeds treated with 5 Kr dose of gamma rays and 1 % EMS revealed a stimulatory effect while 25 Kr dose of gamma ray except seed germination and 4 % EMS treatment showed an inhibitory effect for all the characters studied when compared to other treatments. Data obtained in this study were statistically significant at 5 % level. The results conclude that treatments of gamma rays were found to be greater compared to those of EMS treatments. Based on the variation in flowering and yield traits of gamma rays and EMS treated plants, superior strain will be screened by PCR-RAPD marker and published in the near future.