Improvement of yield through induced mutagenesis in broad beans

Two of the most common Egyptian broad bean cultivars were treated with various concentrations of EMS. The amount of induced genetic variation for many yield influencing characters was calculated from M3 populations. The results showed that an appreciable amount of heritable variation could be induced in comparison with the untreated controls. Such variation might be profitably utilized for the improvement of yield in this crop. Differences due to the concentration of the mutagen and the variety were also observed. Such differences should be considered when similar mutation breeding programmes are conducted.