Research on mutation generation in higher plants with heavy ions at NIRS-HIMAC

The plant serves medical treatment such as medicine, food, and horticultural-therapy, etc. We have researched the features of Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba (HIMAC) ion beams on the biological effect in various plant species, and the frequency and the spectrum of the plant mutation induced by the irradiation of HIMAC high energetic ion beams. In the present study we have used carbon 290 MONOΦ10 and argon 500 MONOΦ10 ion beams at HIMAC biological irradiation room. We investigated the characteristics of the selected mutants of carnation cultivar 'Komachi' and confirmed their feasibility. We examined the variation of aroma ingredients among mutants of 'Komachi' that have same flower color and type, and discovered that some of the mutants increased the amount of aroma by 30-40% as compared with the parent. The result shows the possibility of ingredient breeding by the HIMAC ion beams. Using carbon 290 MONOΦ10 and argon MONOΦ10 ion beams, we investigated the influence of irradiation on the growth of adventitious buds induced from tuber disks of potato. In 500 MeV/u Ar ion beam irradiation, the bud growth became slow at 1 Gy, and the amount of growth was reduced by half at 2-3 Gy. In 290 MeV/u C ion beam irradiation, the bud growth became slow at 3 Gy, and the amount of growth was reduced by half at 6-7 Gy. (author)