Author(s)

Souleymane Bado^1*, Margit Laimer², Ndiogou Gueye³, Ndeye Fatou Deme³, Enoch Sapey⁴, Abdelbagi Mukhtar Ali Ghanim¹, Vivian Carol Blok⁵, Brian Peter Forster^1,6

¹Plant Breeding and Genetics Laboratory (PBGL), Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, FAO/IAEA Laboratories, Seibersdorf, Austria.
²Plant Biotechnology Unit, Department of Biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria.
³Biotechnology Laboratory of Mushrooms, Department of Plant Biology, Faculty of Sciences & Techniques, University of Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar Fann, Sénégal.
⁴Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Oil Palm Research Institute (OPRI), Kade, Ghana.
⁵The James Hutton Institute, Errol Rd, Invergowrie, Dundee, UK.
⁶BioHybrids International Ltd., Reading, UK.

Micro-tubers are important propagules in potato breeding and potato production, and they are also dormant and easily transported and therefore good targets for mutation induction in potato mutation breeding. A prerequisite for mutation breeding is to determine optimal mutation treatments. Therefore, radio-sensitivity tests of a tetraploid and a diploid potato to gamma irradiation were undertaken. Effects of different gamma sources on radio-activity were also studied. In vitro potato cuttings were gamma irradiated using a wide dose range (0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 20 Gy). The irradiated cuttings were then cultured to induce micro-tubers directly in vitro. Micro-tuber morphotypes were assessed after irradiation of cuttings using three gamma sources with emission activities of 1.8, 7.07 and 139 Gy/min. The diploid species (Solanum verrucosum) was more radio-sensitive than the tetraploid cultivar Desirée (Solanum tuberosum). Gamma dose rates had significant influences on subsequent micro-tuber production at various mutant generations. Effects included reductions in the number, size and weight of micro-tubers produced. Gamma dose was more lethal for the diploid potato genotype and micro-tubers produced were small compared to those produced by the tetraploid genotype after irradiation. Different treatments are recommended for diploid and tetraploid potato irradiation in producing large mutant micro-tuber populations. The mutant micro-tuber populations may then be screened for interesting mutations/trait for both genetics and plant breeding purposes.

Potato, in Vitro Cuttings, Micro-Tubers, Mutation Induction, Gamma Irradiation, Mutant Populations, Recommended Dose Rates

Bado, S. , Laimer, M. , Gueye, N. , Deme, N. , Sapey, E. , Ali Ghanim, A. , Blok, V. and Forster, B. (2016) Micro-Tuber Production in Diploid and Tetraploid Potato after Gamma Irradiation of in Vitro Cuttings for Mutation Induction. American Journal of Plant Sciences, 7, 1871-1887. doi: 10.4236/ajps.2016.714173.