Generation of Mutant Plants by Gamma Ray Exposure and Development of Low-Cost TILLING Population in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.).

Induced mutations have been used to facilitate plant breeding for more than 80 years. Success requires the development of a mutant population and methods to evaluate that population. In this protocol we provide methods for the development of a chickpea mutant population using gamma irradiation, and low-cost methods for the molecular characterization of the mutant population. Specifically, this chapter provides detailed methods for (1) mutation induction by gamma rays and determination of LD and RD, (2) phenotypic assessment of the M generation, (3) low-cost extraction of genomic DNA, and (4) identification of induced mutations using low-cost agarose-gel based TILLING. The methods are low-cost and designed to be applicable in most research settings.