Colchicine induced morphological variability in sugarcane

Abstract

Mutation breeding is one of the tools in genetic improvement. The existence of morphological differences among the mutants and the original indicates genetic changes in putative mutants. The research aimed to determine morphological characters of sugarcane colchicine-induced putative mutants. The materials were 21 numbers of putative mutants derived from the PS 881 variety as a parent. Morphological traits were observed on a seven-month-old plantation of sugarcane mutants in January 2019 at the UPBUP screen houses. The descriptor list consisted of 34 morphological characters, including leaves, sheath, stalks, internodes, and buds. The results showed that putative mutants have a narrow diversity and separated into two large clusters with a dissimilarity level of 0.25 with PS 881. Cluster I consisted of 11 putative mutants (38B, 14A, 33A, 18A, 4B, 31A, 52A, 4A, 3A, 30A, and 6A) and cluster II consisted of 10 putative mutants (54A, 38A, 37A, 36B, 60A, 49A, 27A, 22B, 17A, and 9A). Several mutants have leaves with darker green color, larger stalk diameter, and longer internode than their parents. Further evaluation needs to be done to identify mutants with high production potential.