Gamma irradiation effects on crop plants
K. Yasmin, D. Arulbalachandran
Abstract
Mutation breeding has played a crucial role to enhance the world food security, hence new crop varieties induced by the utilization of various mutagens have contributed to the significant enhancement of crop production. In the current scenario, physical mutagen played a vital role to induce more new varieties with desirable traits in crop breeding. Among the physical mutagens, gamma irradiation act as more effective tool to induce new traits in various crop plants. Hence, the present critical review focused to determine the potential effects of gamma irradiation on plant growth, biological and physiological alterations, reactive oxygen species alteration, mutant induction in successive generations, quantitative and qualitative traits alteration in various crop plants.