The determination of morpho-agronomic characteristics in M2 generation of chickpea varieties induced to different gamma irradiation doses

The grain yield per plant and some yield components of plants in M₂ generation obtained by applying different doses of gamma rays (0, 100, 200 and 300 Gy) to four chickpea varieties (Azkan, Aksu, Uzunlu 99 and Sarı 98) were investigated in the study. The design of the experiment was randomized complete block (RCB), arranged as split-plot with four chickpea varieties (main plots) and four (4) different doses gamma rays (subplots) with 3 replicates in 2019 year. In the study, 50% flowering days (days), 50% pod filling days (days), plant height (cm), first pod height (cm), number of branches per plant, number of main branches, number of lateral branches, number of pods per plant, filled pod per plant, number of seeds per pod, number of grain per plant, 100 grain weight (g), grain yield per plant (g/plant) biological yield per plant(g / plant) and harvest index(%) were investigated. In the study, it was determined that increasing gamma ray doses caused a significant variation in plant characters such as plant height, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per plant, plant grain yield and biological yield in the plant, except the flowering time and number of seeds per pod, compared to the control dose. In addition, it has been determined that each gamma ray dose creates different levels of positive variation in chickpea varieties. In this case, it was determined that 100 Gy gamma ray dose was sufficient to obtain plants with different characteristics for Aksu chickpea variety, while 200-300 Gy gamma doses were sufficient for Azkan chickpea variety. Consequently, when the study results were examined in terms of grain yield per plant, the highest value was obtained from Azkan chickpea variety with a dose of 300 Gy with 10.6 g plant-1. Keywords: Chickpea cultivars, Mutation breeding, M2 generation