Creation of variability is a prerequisite for crop improvement in any plant breeding programme. Spontaneous mutations have played an important role in the improvement certain characters in some of the fruit crops. Induction of variability using physical mutagen, gamma rays has been used for long time by breeders. Papaya is a polygamous plant three basic types of flowers viz. male, female and hermaphrodite (bisexual). Irradiation-induced mutation is increasingly used as a complementary tool in plant breeding. As per Case study I, induction of variability in two cultivars of papaya viz. Coorg Honey Dew and Sunrise Solo was tried using gamma rays. As per Case study II, the objectives were to generate variability in papaya variety Eksotika by gamma irradiation and to screen for variants that have resistance to ring spot virus disease and delayed fruit ripening characteristics.
Gita R. Chaudhari*
Dept. of Vegetable Science, College of Horticulture, Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat (388 110), India
Sheetal Patel
Dept. of Genetics & Plant Breeding, Regional Rice Research Station, Navsari Agricultural University, Vyara, Gujarat (388 110), India
Shridhar Ragi
Division of Genetics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, Delhi (110 012), India
Chaudhari, G.R., Patel, S., Ragi, S., 2022. Radiation induced mutation breeding in Papaya (Carica papaya L.). Biotica Research Today 4(1), 074-076.
Chan, Y.K., Lee, H.K., Rusna, I., 2007. Irradiation-induced variations in M2 populations of Eksotika papaya. J. Trop. Agric. and Fd. Sc. 35(1), 49-57.
Mahadevamma, M., Dinesh M.R., Vasantha Kumari, R., Shankarappa, T.H., 2012. Evaluation of induced variability in papaya (Carica papaya L.) by physical mutagenesis. CIBTech Journal of Biotechnology 1, 66-71.