Studies on Makhana (Euryale ferox Salisbury)

Makhana (Euryale ferox Salisbury) grows as an exclusive aquatic cash crop in shallow water bodies in north Bihar and lower Assam regions of India. It has nutritional and medicinal properties and supports cottage industry. It is a monotypic genus and the available genetic variability is limited. An attempt was made to understand the cultural practices, genetic variability among the available germplasm and the biochemical changes during seed germination. It was included in an improvement programme using gamma ray induced mutagenesis. Different morphological parameters were selected to find out its sensitivity to different doses of gamma rays. (author)