I Journal of Spices and Aromatic Crops 10 (1) : 51-53 (2001) An induced detenninate mutant in fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum 1.) A K Chaudhary & V V Singh Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics S K N College of Agriculture Jobner - 303 329, Rajasthan, India. Received 03 July 2000; Revised 27 November 2000, Accepted 20 September 2001. Abstract A determinate mutant was isolated from a population of 400 plants of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) in the M2 generation raised from 200 seeds of Rmt 1 (indeterminate variety) treated with ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS) 0.10% for 4 h. Random samples from all M2 populations (except the mutant) were advanced to M3 generation. The appearance of one determinate type in a sample of 798 plants indicated that the trait is monogenic. This mutant was grown along with Rmt 1 and UM 305 (spontaneous mutant for similar growth habit). There were significant differences among genotypes for plant height, number of pods per plant, seed yield per plant and aphid infestation. The study indicated that the performance of the mutant could be brought on par with the checks following selection for desired economic traits. Key words: fenugreek, induced mutant, Trigonella foenum-graecum. Basic genetic information of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.), an important seed spice, is scanty. This is primarily due to the lack of easily identifiable variants for most Mendelian traits. Empirical evidences and available literature suggest that genetic vari- ability for most of the economic characters is also limited (Edison 1997). Artificial mutagen- esis is one of the tools which may either create de novo plant type or enhance existing variabil- ity for most morphological as well as economic traits. The present investigation deals with some properties of an induced mutant type with growth-arresting inflorescence following mutagenic treatments in a commercial variety of fenugreek with indeterminate growth habit. Rmt 1, a pure line variety of fenugreek with indeterminate growth habit, was used for mutagenic treatment. Three samples of 200 seeds each were soaked in distilled water for 24 h. Among the three samples, one was kept as control. The remaining two samples were treated with ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS) 0.10% and 0.25%, respectively, for 4 h, then washed and dried. The treated and untreated (control) seeds were sown separately in the field during 1997-98. The experiments were conducted at S K N College of Agriculture, Jobner, Rajasthan. At maturity, seeds were collected from each treatment separately and 400 seeds taken at random from each treatment were sown separately in the subsequent year. A single determinate mutant was observed in the M2 population, advanced from EMS 0.10% treated seeds. This M2 population (except the mutant) and the control were again harvested separately. In the following year, randomly taken two samples (1596 seeds each) of the