COLCHICINE INDUCED MORPHOLOGICAL VARIATION IN MULBERRY VARIETY M5

Abstract

Mulberry variety M5
is used for the induction of variation through colchicine treatment. Five different
concentrations of aqueous colchicine [C22H25NO5
] viz., 0.1% - 0.5% were used to treat the vegetative buds.
Sprouting%, rooting% and plant height were decreased with a linear increase in the percentage of colchicine
used. Increase in leaf area was observed at 0.4% (166.94 cm2
) and 0.5% (165.20 cm2
) when compared to
control (155.41 cm2
) plants. Thick, succulent and dark leaves were found associated with the increased leaf
area. In the M2
generation, the variant exhibited decreased number of stomata/unit area (39.57) and increased
number of chloroplast (18 – 22) were observed when compared to control (49.42 and 11 – 14). Yield of the
treated plants (0.573kg/plant) were considerably increased. The plants are grown in full maturity in order to
test their potential for use in a breeding programme oriented at producing lines with quantitative quality of
leaves.