COLCHICINE INDUCED MORPHOLOGICAL VARIATION IN MULBERRY VARIETY M 5

Mulberry variety M 5 is used for the induction of variation through colchicine treatment. Five different concentrations of aqueous colchicine [C 22 H 25 NO 5 ] viz., 0.1% - 0.5% were used to treat the vegetative buds. Sprouting%, rooting% and plant height were decreased with a linear increase in the percentage of colchicine used. Increase in leaf area was observed at 0.4% (166.94 cm 2 ) and 0.5% (165.20 cm 2 ) when compared to control (155.41 cm2) plants. Thick, succulent and dark leaves were found associated with the increased leaf area. In the M 2 generation, the variant exhibited decreased number of stomata/unit area (39.57) and increased number of chloroplast (18 – 22) were observed when compared to control (49.42 and 11 – 14). Yield of the treated plants (0.573kg/plant) were considerably increased. The plants are grown in full maturity in order to test their potential for use in a breeding programme oriented at producing lines with quantitative quality of leaves.