Research Article
Nazarul Hasan, Rafiul Amin
Abstract
Trigonella foenum graecum (fenugreek), a leguminous annual herb with tremendous medicinal and therapeutic importance. Pre-soaked seeds were treated with different concentrations- 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04, 0.05, 0.06, 0.07, 0.08, 0.09 and 0.10% of maleic hydrazide for 6 hours duration each. The mutagen treatments shifted the mean values of all quantitative and bio-physiological traits in positive as well as negative direction as compared to control. The total chlorophyll content in both the cultivars showed a considerable negative shift from their control at all the treatment conditions. Seed germination, pollen fertility and plant survival reduced in a progressive manner with the increasing mutagen. The treatments were found to be appropriate for breeding objectives focused on productivity, considering the lower biological damages with a higher percent of the variance in quantitative traits. A cconsiderable increase in variance was recorded for all the traits studied including morphological traits. The novel morphological mutations induced in the present study would also be useful in botanical studies of fenugreek. The present experimentation reflected that the induced variation with 0.06% could be applied for the generation of new cultivars of fenugreek. The mutation breeding approach could be used in fenugreek to develop cultivars with improved seed yield, early seed maturity, better seed quality and determinate growth habit.