Research work on mutation breeding in Egypt during the 1980s

The research work carried out on mutation breeding in Egypt during the 1980s is summarized. Several mutations have been developed in bread wheat, maize, rice and barley. A higher yield, tolerance to salinity, shorter types and earliness were obtained after use of different mutagens and growth regulators. Great attention has been paid to the fababean and chickpea, particularly in improving their quality and quantity of protein, and their resistance to insect weevils such as Callosobruchus sp. Tolerance or resistance to broom rape has also been reported. Various grain legumes such as lentil, pea, cowpea, bean, fenugreek and lupin received some attention. Mutation work on fibre crops such as cotton, kenaf and flax has led to some promising results. Zero type, glandless and early maturing mutants were obtained in cotton, and early flowering, high yielding (fibre or oil) mutants in flax. Some attention has been given to oil crops such as sesame, rapeseed, peanuts, castorbean, sunflower and safflower, and several characters in sesame, including yield, earliness, the number of capsules per leaf axil and tolerance to some fungi, were obtained. Promising smooth mutations with different flower colours have been developed in safflower, and nodulation and tolerance to salinity have received some attention in peanuts and sunflower. High seed getting and earliness mutants were obtained in Egyptian clover. The results on sugarcane and sugarbeet still need to be confirmed, as well as those on tomato, potato, onion, Portulaca, citrus and medicinal plants. (author). 2 refs