Studies on effects of gamma ray doses on germination in pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh] under laboratory and field conditions

Abstract

An experiment was conducted during kharif 2014 at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana to study the effects of two doses (300 Gy and 400 Gy) of gamma rays on germination percent of pigeonpea. Seeds of pigeonpea variety AL 201 were treated at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai using two doses viz. 300 Gy and 400 Gy of gamma radiations. The data on germination of treated seeds as well as control (untreated) were recorded under laboratory and field conditions. The germination data on obtained from laboratory experiment showed that germination percent in control was 90% whereas in two treatments of gamma radiations i.e. 300 Gy and 400 Gy, it was 60% and 49%, respectively thus there was an inhibitory effect of increasing mutagen dose on the germination of seeds. Under field conditions, in control treatment, per cent germination was 89% whereas for 300 Gy treatment, it was 56% and for 400 Gy it was 47%, respectively. Thus under field condition also there is an inhibitory effect of increasing mutagen dose on the germination of seeds.