In vitro Mutagenesis for Creation of Novel Variants in Gerbera Gerbera jamesonii Bolus ex Hook f

Abstract

Gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii Bolus.) commonly known as Transvaal daisy or Barbeton newlinedaisy is an exceptionally beautiful flower belong to Asteraceae family which is native to South newlineAfrica (Singh et al., 2017). Gerbera name was given in the honour of German naturalist newlineTraugott Gerber. The blooms of gerbera are commercially used as both cut flowers in flower newlinearrangements, decoration, exhibition and bouquet preparation and decorative plants in pots, newlinebeds and borders for garden display (Patra et al., 2015). It ranked 5th as popular cut flower newlinebecause of its vibrant attractive flower colours, flower diameters, long stem length, long vase newlinelife and high yield potential. In Odisha, it is cultivated in an area of about 18 acre under newlineprotected structure. Customers have high preferences for new colour and shape of flowers. newlineCreating variations in the performance concerning vegetative and flowering parameters through newlineinduced mutation X-ray and EMS) in gerbera have not been recorded in Odisha earlier, which newlinewas rather fulfilled by many private organizations. X-rays as physical mutagen and EMS as newlinechemical mutagens, are effective tools for inducing mutations for improvement in flower crops. newlineTherefore, there is a need for rapid breeding of gerbera to develop new variety highly suitable newlinefor our Odisha climate that will meet the requirement of consumers. This research work will be newlinethe first step towards creating variation and bringing improvement in gerbera through induced newlinemutation. newlineThe experiment was conducted under the Department of Floriculture and Landscaping, newlineat Biotechnology-cum Tissue Culture Centre (BTCC), Baramunda, College of Agriculture, newlineOUAT, Bhubaneswar during the year 2021-2024. Five different experiment were carried under newlinethe entire research work. For standardization of media for in-vitro cloning 10 treatments were newlinetaken. For conduction of mutation work physical X-ray) 11 treatments and chemical (EMS) 15 newlinetreatment were taken along with 3 replication per treatment. Experiment was done in a CRD newlinedesign. In-vitro microshoots