Genetic improvement through chemical and physical mutagenesis for enhanced leaf production in moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam.)

Abstract

Creation of variation and selection of novel moringa
(Moringa oleifera Lam.) cultivars with the desirable qualities
demanded by farmers, industrialists and consumers have
long been the breeding objective at HC & RI, Periyakulam,
TNAU. Breeding for new leafy type moringa cultivar through
induced mutagenesis approach was taken as an objective
for this experiment. Several desirable Ethyl methane
sulfonate induced mutant lines that were identified from
moringa cultivar PKM-1. These mutant lines were recorded
more than four times (0.200 g.) of leaf dry weight production
than PKM-1. It was also found that the percentage of
germination was almost affected during physical
mutagenesis (Gamma irradiation). This reveals that the
percentage of germination is reduced with an increased
mutagen dose. The prospects of exploring the identified
mutant lines and applications of tools of modern genomics
assisted breeding in genetic improvement of moringa with
enhanced nutritionally, medicinally and industrially essential
traits.