Development of new pink mutants through ion beam irradiation

Zaiton, A.*; Affrida, A. H.*; Shakinah, S.*; Nurul Hidayah, M.*; 長谷 純宏; 大野 豊

JAEA-Review 2014-050, JAEA Takasaki Annual Report 2013, P. 108, 2015/03

https://doi.org/10.11484/jaea-review-2014-050

Developing new varieties of chrysanthemums is one of the emphases in Malaysian floriculture research as chrysanthemum is recognized as among the most important cut flower export for Malaysia. A combination of ion beam irradiation and organ culture techniques is very efficient in generating new ornamental varieties with novel traits and wider mutation spectrum. Therefore, in this project, ray floret cultures of pink chrysanthemum variety were irradiated at various doses with 320 MeV C ions, regenerated into plantlets and screened for morphological variations with an ultimate aim to produce mutants with useful horticultural traits. A series of screening was carried out at Nuclear Malaysia's glasshouse and MARDI Cameron Highlands. The mutants were selected and characterized morphologically. Based on these screenings, three mutants were identified based on their distinct flower and/or plant characteristics.