Low-energy heavy-ion beam induced high-yield mutation breeding of Thai jasmine rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. KDML 105)

Abstract

Abstract Thai jasmine rice was improved by low-energy heavy-ion beam induced mutation breeding for high yields. Seeds of Thai rice KDML105 and its ion-beam-induced primary mutant BKOS6 were bombarded by mixed atomic and molecular nitrogen ions accelerated by tens kV in a home-developed high-current ion implanter. Both phenotypes and genotypes of induced mutants were investigated. In M1 generation, more than a hundred plants with the photoperiod-insensitivity potential were obtained. In the subsequent generations, tens of rice mutants with a broad spectrum of phenotypic variations dominantly supporting the high yield potential were selected and studied for the mutation stability till M5 generation. The mutants possessed not only high crop yields but also other properties improved or altered in the grains. DNA fingerprinting analysis revealed polymorphisms in the mutants distinguished from that of KDML105. The cDNA fingerprinting investigation indicated four additional fragments in the mutant profiles encoding proteins which could be involved in the high yield characteristics of the mutants.