Gladiolus is an important flower crop and is verypopular as cut flower both in domestic andinternational market. It is relatively easy to grow and

ideal for bedding and exhibition. In India, gladiolus iscommercially grown in West Bengal, Maharashtra, UttarPradesh, Uttrakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Delhiand Rajasthan (Singh, 2006). Ever increasing demandparticularly in cities and towns of India made it an importantcut flower which is now available in the Indian markets roundthe year. Therefore, a lot of work had been done onimprovement of gladiolus in India and world, subsequentlynumber of varieties developed. In crops mutation plays animportant role to induced variability which can be used forfurther improvement. A large number of varieties have beendeveloped in ornamentals through mutation breeding.Gladiolus is highly heterozygous in its genetic constitutionwhich makes it promising test material for induced physicalmutagenesis. The effects of physical mutagens on gladiolushave been studied by several workers. Therefore, present

Members of the Research Forum

Associated Authors:1Department of Horticulture,Institute of Agricultural Sciences,Banaras Hindu University,VARANASI (U.P.) INDIA

HIND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING INSTITUTE

experiment was carried out to see the effect of gamma radiationon morphological characters in gladiolus.

RESEARCH METHODSThe present investigation entitled studies of gamma

radiation on morphological characters in gladiolus was carriedout at the Horticulture Research Farm, Department ofHorticulture, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras HinduUniversity, Varanasi. This district of U.P. is situated about28.180 North latitude, 83.030 East longitudes and at altitude ofthe location is 123.23 meter above the mean sea level. Tencultivars viz., Gulal, Gunjan, Her Majesty, Jessica, J.V. Gold,Jyotsana, Picoee, Rose Supreme, Shabnam and Urmil wereused as experiment material. Healthy and uniform size of cormswere treated with gamma radiation at various treatments viz.,1.00 kr, 2.00 kr, 3.00 kr, 4.00 kr, 5.00 kr, 6.00 kr, 7.00 kr and control(0.00 kr) and planted at 8 cm depth, with a spacing of 30×20 cm.The experiment was carried out in Randomized Block Designwith three replications. Standard package of cultural practices

Studies of gamma irradiation on morphological charactersin gladiolus

ANIL K. SINGH AND ANUJ KUMAR1

Article history :Received : 27.11.2012Revised : 28.04.2013Accepted : 21.05.2013

Author for correspondence :ANIL K. SINGHDepartment of Horticulture, Instituteof Agricultural Sciences, BanarasHindu University, VARANASI(U.P.) INDIAEmail : anilksingh_hort@rediffmail.com

ABSTRACT : The present experiment was undertaken entitled studies of gamma irradiation onmorphological characters in gladiolus. The experiment was carried out at Horticulture Research Farm,Department of Horticulture, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi,India during winter of 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. To conduct field experiment ten cultivars of gladiolusnamely Gulal, Gunjan, Her Majesty, Jessica, J.V. Gold, Jyotsana, Picoee, Rose Supreme, Shabnam andUrmil were planted in the field at 30 × 20 cm distance. Experiment was laid out in randomized blockdesign with three replications. In this experiment different morphological characters i.e. sprouting of50% corms, plant height at 30 days after planting and number of leaves/plant at 30 days after plantingof corms were studied. Data revealed that earliest sprouting of 50% corms were recorded with 2.00 krgamma rays in cultivar Jyotsana. While in interaction with variety and treatment best result was recordedwith 1.00 kr gamma rays in variety Jyotsana and late sprouting were recorded with 7.00 kr gamma raysin variety Gunjan. Maximum plant height also reported with same treatment. Treatment 2.00 kr gammarays with cv. J.V. Gold show the best performance with respect of number of leaves per plant.

KEY WORDS : Gladiolus, Gamma irradiation, Morphological characters

HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE : Singh, Anil K. and Kumar, Anuj (2013). Studies of gamma irradiation onmorphological characters in gladiolus, Asian J. Hort., 8(1) : 299-303.

THEASIAN JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE

Research Paper

Volume 8 | Issue 1 | June, 2013 | 299-303

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were followed throughout the experiment to grow a successfulcrop. Data of different morphological parameters were recordedregularly and mean value of data were analyzed throughstatistical method.

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONIn respect of cultivars data presented in Table 1 revealed

that minimum days (10.97 days) to 50% sprouting of cormswere recorded with treatment 3.00 kr and closely followed by2.00 kr (11.00 days), 1.00 kr (11.04 days) and 4.00 kr (11.07days) all four were statistically at par and significant to others,while maximum days to 50% sprouting were recorded under7.00 kr (12.96 days) followed by 6.00 kr (12.34 days). Secondyear of experiment also reported the similar result. Plant treatedwith 7.00 kr took maximum days to 50% sprouting (13.15 days)followed by (12.64 days) with 6.00 kr.

A comparison among response of different cultivarsirrespective of gamma irradiation to days taken to 50%sprouting of corms show significant difference. During firstyear maximum days (14.44) was taken by cultivar Jessicafollowed by cultivar Her Majesty (14.17) which was statisticallyat par with variety Jessica and significant to other cultivars.While minimum days to 50% sprouting of corms was recordedwith cultivar Jyotsana (9.23 days) followed by cv. Urmil (10.20days). During second year of experiment late sprouting wasrecorded with variety Jessica (14.92 days) followed by HerMajesty (14.24 days). Early sprouting of corms (9.20 days)were recorded with cv. Jyotsana followed by Shabnam (9.95days). In the interaction of cultivar and treatment minimumdays to 50% sprouting was recorded with cultivar Jyotsana(8.40) when corms were treated with 1.00 kr treatment duringfirst year as well as second year (8.06), while, maximum daysto 50% sprouting were recorded with cultivar Jessica under 7kr treatment (16.40) during first year and also in second year(16.95 ). This early sprouting of gladiolus corms at lower doseof gamma rays was probably related with the increase in theactivities of gibberellins and auxins and disappearance ofinhibitors. Misra and Bajpai (1983), Awad and Elbahr (1986),Pranom et al. (1986) and Karki et al. (2010) also observedsimilar finding in slight earliness in sprouting of gladioluscorms when treated with lower doses of gamma rays. Patil etal. (2010a) and Patil et al. (2010b) reported that most of thecharacters were stimulated till 3.00 kr treatment and started toreduce on higher dose but treatment 2.00 kr has proved bettertreatment including control. Low level of mutagen itself is notresponsible for early sprouting of gladiolus but it influencesthe activity of enzymes. Enzymes play an important role inplant metabolism to accelerate metabolism activities andconsequently result in stimulating plant growth (Misra andBajpai, 1983).

Data reveal that during first year with respect of gammairradiation maximum plant height (34.28 cm) was reported with2.00 kr treatment followed by 1.00 kr (34.19 cm), while minimum

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other treatments. While minimum numbers of leaves per plantwere observed with 7.00 kr treatment (1.94). Data of secondyear experiment showed that maximum number of leaves perplant (3.58) was recorded with 2.00 kr treatment followed by1.00 kr treatment (3.50). While minimum number of leaves perplant (1.85) were observed with 7.00 kr treatment.

Interaction among gamma irradiation and variety showedthat, the number of leaves/plant were significant during boththe years. Maximum numbers of leaves/plant (4.80) wererecorded with cv. J.V. Gold when it was treated with 2.00 kr and3.00 kr treatment of gamma rays during first year of experiment.Whereas during second year, maximum number of leaves/plant(5.07) was recorded with cv. J.V. Gold when it was treated with2.00 kr. Minimum number of leaves per plant (1.09) wasobserved in cv. Her Majesty with 7.00 kr treatment followedby variety Gulal (1.42) and Picoee (1.43) with 7.00 kr treatment,while during second year it was observed that cultivar Gulalrecorded the minimum number of leaves (1.20) when it wastreated with 7.00 kr. Pranom et al. (1986) and Banerji et al.(1994) in gladiolus also reported poor plant height, reducednumber of leaves with increasing doses of gamma irradiation.These result may be due to changes in auxin levels, might bedue to inactivation of auxin (Datta and Datta, 1953) ordestruction of enzyme system (Bairagi 1969), or inhibition ofauxin synthesis (Gordon, 1954), or inhibition of mitoticactivities and chromosome damage associated with secondryphysical damage (Gunckal, 1957). Decrease in plant height,length and number of leaves can be due to the reduction inthe number of vertical cell layers resulting in the shorterinternodes, reduction in the number of internodes, or anycombination of these processes.

REFERENCESAwad, A.R.E. and Elbahr, K. (1986). Growth regulators and gammairradiation treatments affecting the sprouting and endogenousharmones in gladiolus. Acta-Hort., 177 (2) : 612.

Bairagi, R. (1969). Radiosensitive phase in plant germination. Proc.2nd Int. Conf., peaceful use of atom. in Geneva, 27, 299-304.

Banerji, B.K., Datta, S.K. and Sharma, S.C. (1994). Gammairradiation studies on gladiolus cv. White Friendship. J. Nuclear Agric.& Bio., 23(3): 127-133.

Datta, P.K. and Datta, C. (1953). High dosage of X-irradiation oninhibition of growth in rice seedlings. Sci. & Culture, 18 : 500-502.

Gordon, S.A. (1954). Occurrence, formation and inactivation ofauxins. Ann. Rev. Plant Physiol., 5 : 341-378.

Gunckel, J.E. (1957). The effects of ionizing radiation on plants.Morphological effects. Quantitative Rev. Biol., 32 : 46-56.

Karki, K., Srivarstva, R. and Chand, S. (2010). Effect of gammairradiation in gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus L.). Abst. NationalSymposium on Life Style Floriculture: Challenges and Opportunities,YSPU H&F, Nauni, Solan (H.P.). pp. 14.

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plant height (20.68 cm) was recorded with 7.00 kr treatmentfollowed by (24.06 cm) 6.00 kr (Table 2). During second year ofinvestigation, maximum plant height was recorded with 1.00kr treatment (36.46 cm) followed by 2.00 kr treatment (36.12cm) and both of these were statistically similar and significantto others. However, during first year minimum plant height(20.52 cm) was recorded with 7.00 kr followed by 6.00 kr (23.68cm), 5.00 kr (27.08 cm). Irrespect of performance of differentcultivars, maximum plant height was recorded with cultivarJyotsana (40.66 cm) followed by cultivar Rose Supreme (37.86cm), Picoee (37.30 cm) and Gunjan (30.94 cm). These all werestatistically significant to each other. Minimum plant heightwas recorded with cv. Her Majesty (18.83 cm) followed by cv.J.V. Gold (23.15 cm). During second year also the cultivarsshowed the significant difference to each other, wheremaximum plant height was recorded with cv. Jyotsana (40.39cm) followed by cv. Rose Supreme (39.30 cm). Minimum plantheight (19.98 cm) was recorded with cv. Her Majesty followedby cv. Shabnam (22.70 cm), J.V. Gold (24.34 cm), Urmil (26.35cm) and Jessica (26.66 cm).

Interaction among the two factors i.e. cultivar and gammairradiation show significant difference during both the yearsof experiment. Data presented in the Table 2 shows thatmaximum plant height was recorded with cv. Jyotsana undercontrol during first year (48.53 cm), while minimum plant height(10.52 cm) was observed with cv. Her Majesty when it wastreated with 7.00 kr treatment. During second year similar trendwas found and maximum plant height was recorded in cv.Picoee (48.40 cm) with 1.00 kr treatment followed by (47.00 cm)with 2.00 kr treatment these were statistically different. RoseSupreme (46.20 cm) with 2.00 kr treatment, Jyotsana (45.95 cm)under control and with 1.00 kr treatment (45.60 cm). Thesetreatments were statistically similar to each other andsignificant to others. It was observed that at higher dose ofgamma irradiation, reduction in plant height was observed indifferent cultivars. Minimum plant height was recorded withcv. Her Majesty (11.80 cm).

Data presented in Table 3 reveal that with respect ofnumber of leaves per plant, different cultivars resulted insignificant difference during both the year of experiment.Maximum number of leaves per plant (3.93) was recorded withcultivar J.V. Gold after 30 days of planting of corms, whileminimum number of leaves (1.89) was recorded with cv. HerMajesty. During second year of the experiment maximumnumber of leaves per plant (3.84) was recorded with cv. J. V.Gold followed by Jyotsana (3.67) and minimum number ofleaves per plant (2.00) was recorded with cv. Her Majestyfollowed by Rose Supreme (2.18), Picoee (2.19) and Gulal (2.35).

The effect of gamma irradiation on different cultivars ofgladiolus was significant during first and second year.Maximum numbers of leaves per plant (3.34) was recordedwith 1.00 kr treatment followed by 2.00 kr treatment (3.33).Both treatments were statistically similar and significant to

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Misra, R.L. and Bajpai, P.N. (1983). Mutational studies in gladioli(Gladiolus L.): Effect of physical and chemical mutagens sproutingand survival of corms. Haryana J. Hort. Sci., 12(1-2): 16.

Patil, S.D., Patil, H.E. and Dhaduk, B.K. (2010a). Response ofgamma radiation on vegetative and floral characters of commercialvarieties of gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus L.). Abst. NationalSymposium on Life Style Floriculture: Challenges and Opportunities,YSPU H&F, Nauni, Solan (H.P.). pp. 21 pp.

Patil, S.D., Patil, H.E. and Dhaduk, B.K. (2010b). Effect of gammaradiations on morphological and cytological characters of gladiolus(Gladiolus grandiflorus L.). Abst. National Symposium on Life StyleFloriculture: Challenges and Opportunities, Dr. Y.S. Parmar Universityof Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan (H.P.). pp. 21-22.

Pranom, P., Sangtham, K. and Orwan, M. (1986). Production ofgladiolus. Effect of gamma irradiation on certain characteristics ofgladiolus var. Spic and Span, Norwich Canary. Research andDevelopment Institute. Research Reports. Kasestsart University(Thailand), 85.

Raghva, S.P.S., Negi, S.S., Sharma, T.V.R.S. and Balkrishna,K.A. (1988). Gamma ray induced mutants in gladiolus. J. Nuclear &Agric. Biol., 17(1): 5-10.

Singh, A.K. (2006). Flower crops: Cultivation and management.Pub. New India, Publishing Agency, Pitam Pura, New Delhi, p.147.

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