Selection of male-sterile and dwarfism genetically modified zoysia japonica through gamma irradiation

The aim of this study is selection of the male-sterile plant for inhibiting transgene flow through gamma-irradiation (60Co) at the pollination and fertilization cycle of herbicide-tolerant genetically modified (GM) zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonica Steud.). High frequencies of plant mutations were obtained about 18% from M1 generation at the doses (10 to 50 Gy). We also found that some M1 plants showed male-sterile plants using de-husked seeds and comparison of stainable pollen using KI-I2 solution. Besides the effects of irradiation on pollination and fertilization cycle, various other mutation like dwarf, cold tolerance, increasing grains and mass were observed. Four of dwarfism plants were selected through comparison of morphological characteristic between control and mutants during 4 years. These results demonstrated that the gamma-irradiation on pollination and fertilization cycle is very effective to induce the various mutations, and the male-sterile mutants are useful for controlling transgene flow and developing of high quality turfgasses