Physical and Chemical Mutagenesis for Improvement of Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.)

A comparison of the effectiveness and efficiency of gamma rays and ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) for inducing mutation in chilli seeds of 10 different doses along with one respective control. Seeds were treated with 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 kR of gamma rays and 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 mM of ethyl methanesulfonate. The M1 generation was produced from these mutagen treated seeds. Several unique and interesting chlorophyll and viable mutants were obtained in the M generation (subsequent generation derived from the seeds of M 2 1 generation). Chlorophyll mutations are used to evaluate the genetic effects of various mutagens. The spectra of chlorophyll mutants albina, chlorina, viridis and lutescens were most frequently. In M generation, gamma 2 rays induced higher proportion of chlorophyll mutants than EMS. Frequency of viable mutants was, in general, higher in treatments with EMS than with gamma rays. Treatment with 30 mM EMS was more effective in inducing desirable mutations at the highest frequency. The desirable viable mutants of long and dark red pods, base non-bulging fruits, flower mutant (normally pentamerous flower but an abnormal behavior of trimerous, tetramerous, heptamerous), two or three flowers on a peduncle, profuse branching and pod setting and genic male sterility were isolated from different treatments. Lethality or biological injury, apparent as reduced germination, increased with increasing dose of gamma rays and EMS. Mutagenic effectiveness and efficiency generally increased with increasing dose of EMS. Mutation breeding will significantly increase the chilli amelioration both the effectiveness and efficacy of induced variability of desirable traits to develop improved genotypes.