Mutation Breeding is A standard technique of creating variability by means of altering genes through induction of mutations by physical or chemical mutagens and using the same effectively through elaborate methods of selection techniques in various generations for improvement of a particular crop species for desired objectives. It is sometimes referred to as "variation breeding", A process of exposing seeds to chemicals, radiation, or enzymes.

1. Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding
Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya , Jabalpur (M.P.)
Presented by
Pushpa Jharia
Ph.D Second Year, Second Semester
MUTATION BREEDING AS A METHOD OF CROP
IMPROVEMENT
Credit Seminar
on

2. CONTENTS
• Introduction
• Mutation: Types
• Mutagens
• Mutation Breeding: Procedures
• Screening/Selection
• Mutation Breeding: Achievements
• Future Prospects
• Mutation Breeding: Advantages
• Mutation Breeding: Limitation
• Conclusion

3. INTRODUCTION
• The word mutation is derived from Latin word “mutatus” meaning “changed”
• Mutation refers to sudden heritable change in the phenotype of an individual, It may be
the change in gene, chromosome or plasmagene (genetic material inside mitochondria
and chloroplast)
• It is most commonly used in asexually propagated crops, self pollinated crops and rarely
used in cross pollinated crops
• Mutation breeding is a fundamental and highly successful tool in the global efforts of
agriculture to feed an ever increasing and nutritionally demanding human population
• It occurs in two ways:
ØBy alteration in Nuclear DNA (Point mutation)
ØBy change in Cytoplasmic DNA (Cytoplasmic mutation)

4. Some facts
• In 1901-1904, “Hugo de vries” used 1st time the term "Mutation“ and
founded genome mutation in “Oenothera’’
• The term mutation breeding (Mutationszüchtung) was first coined
by ”Freisleben and Lein” (1944). He referred mutation breeding as
the deliberate induction and development of mutant lines for
crop improvement
• 300BC-The ancient Chinese book "Lulan" provides the first documentation
of mutant selection in plant breeding: maturity and other trait in china
(Huang and Liang,1980)
• In 1927, “Mullar” used 1st time X-rays as mutation induction in Drosophila

5. • In 1928, “Stadler” used first time X-rays for induction of mutation in
barley
• In 1936, the first induced mutant variety was released of tobacco var.
is 'chlorina' by using X-rays in Indonesia
• in 1942, “Freisleben and Lein” first reported X-ray induced mildew
resistance in barley
• In 1946, “Auerbach and Robson” first reported chemically induced
mutation in Mustard
•
• In 1954, the first vegetatively propagated mutant variety “Faraday” of
Tulip with improved flowers and pattern was released

6. • In 1964 the FAO/IAEA joint division was set up with a mandate to
support and encourage the production of induced mutation for crop
production particularly for food security issues in developing countries
• In 1966 first chemically induced mutant variety , Luther of barley was
released in the USA
• From 2000-2009 it was the time for development of high-throughput
Genotyping and Phenotyping using automated, robotic and
Computerised system
• 2000 onwards- development of tilling population

7. MUTATION: TYPES
Spontaneous Mutation Induced Mutation
Mutation do occur in nature
Mutation may be artificially
induced by various
mutagenic agent

8. INDUCED MUTATION
Macro Mutation Micro Mutation
Oligogenic in nature Polygenic in nature
Produce a large phenotypic effect Produce a small phenotypic effect
Easily identify on individual plant
basis
Cannot be identify on individual
plant basis
Can be easily selected in M2
generation
Selection delays till M3

9. MUTAGENS
A mutagen is a substance or agent
that causes DNA impairment that
result in the alteration of the
DNA sequence and this alteration
of the DNA sequence is known as
mutation.

10. MUTAGENS : TYPES
Mutagens
Physical
Mutagens
Ionising
Radiation
Non-
Ionising
Radiation
Chemical
Mutagens

11.  Physical Mutagens:
• Ionising Radiation:
 Particulate radiation: Alpha-rays, beta-rays, fast neutrons and thermal
neutrons.
 Non-particulate Radiations: X-rays and gamma rays
• Non-Ionising Radiation: Ultraviolet radiation
Chemical Mutagens:
• Alkylating agent: EMS (Ethyl Methane Sulphonate), MMS (Methyl Methane
Sulphonate), EI (Ethyl Imines), Sulphur mustard, Nitrogen mustard etc.
• Acridine dyes: Proflavin, Acridine orange, Acridine yellow and EB(Ethidium
Bromide)
• Base Analogues: 5 Bromo Uracil, 2 Amino Pirine
• Other mutagens: Nitrous Acid, Sodium Azide etc.

12. MUTATION BREEDING : PROCEDURES
•Choice of materials
•Choice of Mutagen
•Part of the Plant to be Treated
•Dose of mutagen
•Handling of segregating generations

13. Choice of materials: It should be the best variety in crop and seed
should be pure
Choice of Mutagen: Generally chemical mutagens are more preferred
Part of the Plant to be Treated:
• Seeds
• Pollen grains
• Vegetative propagules
• Corns
• Bulbs
• Complete plant

14. Dose of Mutagen:
• Optimum mutagen dose is one, which produces
maximum frequency of mutation and cause the
minimum killing.
• LD-50 is the dose of mutagen that kills 50% of the
treated individuals.
• Varies with mutagens: EMS-0.3-1.5% for 2-6 hours.

15. HANDLING OF SEGREGATING GENERATIONS
• M1 generation:
 Seeds treated with chemical mutagens should be washed thoroughly and be
planted as soon as possible
 Large M1 generation is raised from treated seeds (wider spacing)
Eg.25000 plants are to be grown to obtain a useful mutation in M1 generation
 The M1 plants should not be allowed to cross pollination. M1 population should be
planted 75-100 m apart from the parental or other genotypes of the same crop
species
• M2 generation:
 Seeds obtained from M1 is sowing in wide spacing
 Selected mutants are selfed
 Oligogenic mutations are detected in M2 and are harvested separately

16. • M3 generation:
 M3 progeny raised from selected M2
 Evaluated for homozygosity
• M4 generation:
 M4 progeny raised in replicated trail using local check for
comparison
M5-M9 generation :
• Selected lines are tested in multilocation trail

17. METHOD:

18. SCREENING/SELECTION
• It is most effective and efficient method for
identifying mutant phenotypes.
• Visual selection often is the prime basis
for selecting for disease resistance, earliness,
plant height, colour changes, adaptation to
soil, climate, growing period etc.
Visual
• Very efficient for seed size, shape, weight,
density, etc., using appropriate sieving
machinery.
Mechanical/Physical

19. MUTATION BREEDING: ACHIEVEMENTS
Mutant varieties released in India

20. • India has made a significant contribution in crop improvement through mutation
breeding. It developed more than 345 improved mutant varieties belonging to 57 crop
species.
• Up to 10th february 2021, 3364 mutant varieties, including 466 legumes have been
developed and officially released
• JNKVV, Jabalpur also has developed many mutant varieties of diff. crops like fodder
(JB-1, JB-05, JB-05-09), Field pea (JP-885, JM-6), Lentil (JL-1, JL-3), Oat (JO-1, JO-03-91,
JO-03-93)etc.
• The Mutation breeding team of nuclear Agriculture and Biotechnology Division of
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has been awarded Outstanding Achievement
Award by Vienna – headquartered International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA), for
Radiation based mutation research for genetic improvement of crops for release and
notification of 11 varieties–Rice(4), one each in linseed, mustard, cowpea, urdbean,
pigeon pea, groundnut and mung bean in the last decade.

21. SOME ACHIEVEMENTS
S.no. Crop Mutant Varieties Features Developed by
1 Rice Jagannath (BSS-873) It was developed by irradiation with X-
rays and officialy approved in 1969, it
has improved grain size , good cooking
quality, semi dwarf and also resistant
variety to lodging
Acharya NG ranga
Agricultural University,
Hyderabad
2 Rice Prabhavati High yielding variety developed by
treatment with chemical mutagen ,
resistance to lodging and tolerance to
iron chlorosis
PAU
3
Wheat
Sharbati sonora High yielding variety, This variety has
contributed to the green revolution of
our country produced by treating
sonora -64 gamma rays
It is developed by Dr. M S
swaminathan
4 Wheat NP 836 High yield, Resistance to leaf rust
5
Chickpea
Pusa-408, Pusa-413, Pusa-
417, Pusa-547
Resistance to ascochyta blight, fusarium
wilt and other diseases and pests by
induced micro mutant
Division of genetics,
ICAR-IARI, new Delhi

22. SOME ACHIEVEMENTS
S.no
.
Crop Mutant Varieties Features Developed by
6 Green gram Pant moong-2 High yield, Resistant to YMV G B Pant university of
Agriculture and
Technology, Pantnagar
7
Back gram
TAU-1, TAU-2, TPU-4 High yielding and large seed size BHABHA ATOMIC
RESEARCH CENTRE,
MUMBAI
8 Groundnut TAG-24 For Earliness, dark green, small leaves, high
water use effieciency
BHABHA ATOMIC
RESEARCH CENTRE,
MUMBAI
9 Groundnut TG-26 more no of three seeded pods BHABHA ATOMIC
RESEARCH CENTRE,
MUMBAI
10 Tobacco Jayasri Resistance to tobacco mosaic virus, it is Flue
cured tobacco
CTRI, Rajahmundry
11 Barley RDB-1 Dwarfness, early maturity, high grain yield
and resistance to lodging and less water
requirement
Rajasthan Agricultural
Research Institute,
Jaipur

23. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SECTOR
• INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA), HEAD QUARTER, VIENNA,
AUSTRIA. It has two regional safeguards offices which are located in Toronto, Canada
and in Tokyo.
• BHABHA ATOMIC RESEARCH CENTRE (BARC), MUMBAI.
• ATOMIC MINERALS DIRECTORATE FOR EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH (AMD),
HYDERABAD.
• INDIRA GANDHI CENTRE FOR ATOMIC RESEARCH (IGCAR) , KALPAKKAM, TAMIL
NADU.
• RAJA RAMANNA CENTRE FOR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY (IGCAR), INDORE.
• VARIABLE ENERGY CYCLOTRON CENTRE (VECC), KOLKATA.
• GLOBAL CENTRE FOR NUCLEAR ENERGY PARTNERSHIP (GCNEP), HARIYANA.

24. FUTURE PROSPECT
Induced mutagenesis is gaining importance in plant molecular biology as a tool to
identify and isolate genes and to study their structure and function. These studies
will definitely have a major impact on the future crop improvement programmes.
Mutation in association with the new technology of genetic engineering will
constitute tools of the plant breeders in near future.
In vitro mutagenesis technique has enhanced the crop yield and germplasm
innovation by the development of quality and improved resistance traits.
In in vitro culture techniques, a small amount of tissues and calli can be subjected
to mutagenesis for the betterment of crop species.

25. The induced mutation has also proved useful in the preparation of
genetic maps that will facilitate molecular marker assisted plant
breeding in future.
The direct use of mutation in the development of molecular maps in
structural and functional genomics could lead to rapid improvement of
plant yield and quality.
The molecular techniques of DNA fingerprinting and molecular mappings
such as RAPD (RANDOM AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA),
AFLP(AMPLIFIED FRAGMENT LENGTH POLYMORPHISM) and
STMS(SEQUENCE TAGGED MICROSATELLITE SITES) have contributed
significantly in the screening and analysis of mutants.

26. MUTATION BREEDING: ADVANTAGES
Mutation breeding can be used for both oligogenic and polygenic traits in
plants.
It improves morphological and physiological characters of cultivated crops.
Mutation breeding is a cheap and rapid method of developing new varieties.
Mutation breeding can improve the disease resistance of crop plants.
Induced mutagens is used for the induction of CMS. Ethidium Bromide (EB)
has been used for induction of CMS in Barley and Pearlmillet.
Mutation breeding can be used to improve the specific characters of a well
adapted high yielding variety

27. MUTATION BREEDING: LIMITATION
The frequency of desirable mutants is very low(0.1% of total
mutations)
The process is generally random and unpredictable
Identification of micro mutation , which is more useful to a plant
breeder is usually very difficult
Mutants have strong negative pleiotropic effects on other traits
Health risk: handling, chemical mutagens; radiations ,fast
neutrons treatment
There may be problem in registration of mutant variety in many
parts

28. CONCLUSION
At present genetic variability is narrowed using conventional breeding
approaches for a long period, induced mutagenesis are one of the most
important approaches for broadening the genetic variation and diversity in
crops
It has many comparative advantages: it is cost effective, quick, proven and
robust. it is also transferrable and environmentally friendly
 Crop varieties generated through the exploitations of mutation breeding are
significantly contributing to global food and nutritional security and improved
livelihoods

29. REFERENCES
1. Q.Y. Shu,B.P.Forster,H.Nakagawa(2011) ,Plant mutation Breeding and biotechnolog, plant
breeding and genetics section ,Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Technology in Food and
Agriculture International Atomic Energy Agency,Vienna Austria.
2.Amir Raina, et al.(2016),Role of mutation breeding in crop improvement-past,present and
future.Asian Research Journal of Agriculture2(2):1-13
3. Q.Y. Shu,B.P.Forster,H.Nakagawa(2011) ,Plant mutation Breeding and biotechnolog, plant
breeding and genetics section ,Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Technology in Food and
Agriculture International Atomic Energy Agency,Vienna Austria.
4.Mutagen-definition and examples-Biologyonline-https://www.biologyonline.com
5.Van Harten,A.M.(1998).Mutation Breeding:Theory and Practical
Applications.Cambridge,UK:Cambridge University Press
6. M C kharkwal 2017, Mutation Breeding for crop improvement in India
7.BARC NEWSLETTER, July-August2021,volume 377,page no.39, IAEA Award for BARC research
in mutation breeding of crops.

30. 8.Kharkual M C, et al. ,Mutation breeding for crops improvement-Mendelian to molecular approaches,
narosa publishing house,2004:601-645.
9.Arene L, et al., Breeding programme on woody ornamental plants in Angers-Franse, A collaboration of
32 years between INRA and sapho,Acta horticulture: 2007
10.XUL, et al., In vitro mutagenesis and genetic improvement, in technological innovation in major world
oil crops, volume 2 springer , New York,2012:2:151-173
11. Schwarzacher T, Mapping in plants: Progress and prospects. Current opinion in genetics and
development,1994:4(6):868-74

31. THANK
S