Shaik Mohammad Firoze, Homraj Sahare* and Gandla Gangadhar
Department of Horticulture, School of Agriculture, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara 144411, India
*(e-mail: homraj.19822@lpu.co.in or homrajsahare82@gmail.com)
ABSTRACT
Syngonium podophyllum, commonly known as arrowhead, is widely used in interior scaping and home gardening due to its attractive, arrowhead-shaped leaves and tolerance for indoor conditions. Mutation breeding in Syngonium is needed to increase its adaptability for commercial multiplication and to develop new cultivars. The current research addressed to employability on various parameters viz. Morphological (number of leaves, leaf length (cm), plant height (cm), survival percentage (%) and Physiological (Leaf chlorophyll content, Leaf area index). The experiment was set up using a Completely Randomized Design with six treatments and four replications. The plant roots of Syngonium were treated with different concentrations of Ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS) for four hours, including with control treatment. The experiment results showed that EMS 0.5% treated plants significant increase in leaf number (8.67), leaf length (14.17 cm), chlorophyll content (32.08 SPAD unit, it measures the difference between transmittance of red 650 nm and infrared 940 nm light through the leaf, generarting a three digit spad value), and leaf area index (27.95). Whereas growth was inhibited and survival percentage was decreased in the higher doses of EMS concentrations at (1.0% and 1.5%). The experiments results indicate that EMS induced mutagenesis is an effective method for Syngonium mutation breeding, with controlled concentrations improving plant vigor and photosynthetic efficiency and excessive concentrations affecting growth and viability.
Key words : ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS), Syngonium podophyllum, chemical mutagenesis, leaf area index, photosynthetic efficiency