Determination of Effective Mutation Dose (ED50) to be Used in Variety Treatment in Tea Plant
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Date
2025-03-04
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Recep Tayyip Erdogan University Journal of Science and Engineering
Abstract
Although tea is cultivated only in the Eastern Black Sea region of Türkiye, all tea plantations in the area have been
established from seeds since the beginning of tea farming. This has negatively affected both yield and quality. The
high level of heterozygosity in tea plants and the presence of self-incompatibility mechanisms prolong breeding
efforts. Mutation breeding is used as a fast and practical method to induce genetic variation. In leading teaproducing countries such as China, India, Kenya, and Sri Lanka, commercially important tea cultivars have been
developed through mutation breeding. However, no such studies have been conducted in Türkiye. This study aimed
to determine the effective mutation dose that can be used to induce variation in tea plants. The research was
conducted between 2020 and 2021 at the Tea Research Greenhouse of the Faculty of Agriculture, Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan University. The plant material used was 3–4-node shoots of the Zihni Derin tea cultivar. These shoots
were irradiated with 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 Gray (Gy) doses using the “Ob-Servo Sanguis Co-60 Research
Irradiator” gamma irradiation device at the Turkish Energy, Nuclear and Mineral Research Agency. Single-node
cuttings obtained from the irradiated shoots were planted in a peat-vermiculite mixture. Survival and rooting rates
of the tea cuttings exposed to different gamma doses were recorded, and shoot length (mm) was measured in the
growing tea seedlings. Survival and rooting rates decreased with increasing radiation dose. Based on a probit
regression analysis of shoot length, the “Effective Mutation Dose” for tea was determined to be 11.45 Gy. This
study represents the first mutation breeding research on tea in Türkiye and is expected to provide a foundation for
future work in this field.
Description
Keywords
Camellia sinensis L., cultivar development, efficacious radiation rate, gamma ray, mutation breeding