Genetic Diversity in Medicinal Mutant Lines of Shirazi Balango (Lallemantia Royleana)

Induced mutation is an appropriate method for increasing genetic diversity. In this study, some morphological traits of 33 mutant lines of M3 generation in medicinal plant Lallemantia royleana, derived from gamma irradiation of seeds at doses of 50, 100, 150, 250, 350, 450 and 700 Gy and control, were investigated through a completely randomized design with 5 repetition. Traits under the study included: the number of days to maturity, plant height, number of branches, inflorescence height, number of flower cycle per plant, number of flower cycle in the main branch and side branch, number of nut in flower cycle and plant, number of grains per nut, seed yield, biological yield, 100 seed weight and harvest index. The differences among mutant lines were statistically significant for all traits with exception of the number of nut in the flower cycle. Mutant line No. 11 that derived from dose 700 Gy, had the highest amount in traits such as inflorescence length, number of flowers per plant cycle, nut number per plant, seed yield per plant and biological yield. The cluster analysis based on the square Euclidean distance and Ward method divided the mutant lines into four clusters where the mutant line No. 11 alone was in a single group.