Mutation breeding for nutritional value in wheat

In 1981 two batches of 100,000 seeds of the spring wheat cultivars Austral and Huenufen were irradiated with gamma rays at 10 and 25 Krad doses. The source of radiation was 60Co, from the Comision Chilena de Energia Nuclear. Objectives of this irradiation program were to develop wheat cultivars well adapted to the Lakes Region of Chile (latitude south 39 to 400), whith higher content of protein and lysine and good yield. Generation M1 was sown densily under field conditions and harvested by mass selection. Plant selection was set up in generation M2 onwards. Selected mutants for protein content (DBC values) in generations M2 (1982-83) and M3 (1983-84) showed ranges from 18 to 22%. These contents were higher than in the controls. As regards lysine content of the proteins, the number of selected was low, however mutants with maximum lysine content overshot 4%. In M4 generation, the better mutants, with adequate number of controls, will be analyzed in the crop season 1984-85, in preliminary trials of production. The technique of horizontal polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis as an alternative technique to the identification and certification of mutants with high content of protein is examined. (Author)