Effects of Ethyl Methane Sulphonate on the Growth and Yield of Vigna radiata L. var. PDM-54 Plants

Abstract

Mutagenesis is a potential tool to be employed in crop improvement and may offer greater opportunities for generating suitable genetic
variability. Ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS) treatments were quite effective in bringing a reduction in different parameters. In this
experiment, the seeds of Vigna radiata PDM-54 were used as the test material. The presoaked seeds were treated with 1% EMS for 4, 6,
and 8 hours. After treatment seeds were washed in running water and sown along with control in three replicates. Data were recorded
on different morphological and cytological parameters in order to assess the mutagenic effect of EMS. The germination percentage
of treated seeds displayed a sharp decrease with the increase in treatment duration. The germination was very poor at 6 and 8-hour
treatment. The survival percentage was also found to be inversely proportional to the duration of treatment. The yield per plant displayed
a gradual decrease with the increase in treatment duration. It indicates that EMS can be used as an effective mutagen to generate
enough variability to be subsequently exploited in any crop improvement program.