Induced quantitative variations in winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L.) Dc.)

Induction of mutations, can contribute to plant improvement through selection, recombination and selection, or with other methods of manipulating genetic variation. As a source of variability, induced mutations supplement naturally occurring variation. Seeds of winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L.) Dc.), were treated with aqueous solution of EMS (0.02, 0.04 and 0.06M) to find out their relative mutagenic effects. A comparative study of spectrum of viable mutation, grain yield per plant and its six economically important components viz., days to flowering, plant height, pod length, pods per plant, seeds per pod and test weight was made in M2 generation. The mutation spectrum was wider in the higher concentration (0.06 M) and early flowering, long podded and yellow testa colour mutants occurred only in this treatment. Flat podded and wrinkled grain mutants were exclusively observed in 0.04 M of EMS. Some of the mutants viz., extreme dwarf, high yielding semi dwarf and sterile mutants were common in both 0.04M and 0.06M concentrations of EMS, whereas light yellow leaf and short grain mutants were common in all the concentrations. Induced variability for grain yield and its components occurred both in positive and negative directions depending upon the character in question. Days to flowering and plant height showed general decrease while remaining characters showed a significant increase in the mean values. The magnitude of coefficient of variability in treated population was higher as compared to control for most of the traits studied.