MUTATION BREEDING BY ION-IMPLANTATION

Ion implantation as a new mutagenic method has been used in the rice breeding program since 1986, and for mutation breeding of other crops later. It has been shown, in principle and in practice, that this method has many outstanding advantages: lower damage rate; higher mutation rate and wider mutational spectrum. Many new lines of rice with higher yield rate; broader disease resistance; shorter growing period but higher quality have been bred from ion beam induced mutants. Some of these lines have been utilized for the intersubspecies hybridization. Several new lines of cotton, wheat and other crops are now in breeding. Some biophysical effects of ion implantation for crop seeds have been studied.