Improvement of mungbean through induced mutations

Mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek) a crop of high nutritive value is the major summer pulse in Pakistan. However, the farmers yield is only about 450 kg/ha. Hybridization is tedious because of cleistogamy and delicate floral structure but mungbean is well suited for mutation breeding (Rajput 1974, Malik et al. 1986). We report new useful mutants in mungbean developed at this Centre. Mungbean varieties Pak-22 and 6601 were treated with gamma rays (100, 200, 300 and 400 Gy). True breeding mutant lines from M3 were evaluated in a yield trial during spring 1987. Mutant lines showed significant differences in maturity, plant height, 100 grain weight and grain yield, the four top yielding mutant lines (24/20, 25/20, 2/40 and 6/20) have yield increases of 17-49% over their respective parents. These mutant lines have the potentiality of being released as new mungbean varieties for the Province of Sind