Impact of irradiation with gamma rays on genetic behavior of potato plant (Solanum tuberosum L.)

Abstract

The study was conducted under the conditions of Nineveh Governorate, Iraq, to investigate the inheritance patterns of some growth and yield traits in five imported potato cultivars of the E grade (Arizona, Fajah, Paradiso, Riviera, and Vogue) under the influence of Gamma Rays exposure for varying durations: untreated, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, and 60 minutes. The study was carried out during the spring growing season of 2024/2025 in the Agricultural Research Field at the College of Agriculture and Forestry in the forest region of Mosul. The experiment was set as a factorial trial of 20 treatments using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates.

The results of the variance analysis indicated that the mean squares for the five cultivars were significant for all studied traits, except for the carbohydrate percentage in the tubers. Meanwhile, the mean squares for radiation treatments were significant only for the percentage of dry matter and starch in the tubers. The values for genetic and environmental variance were significant for all studied traits. Moreover, the genetic variance values were higher than the environmental variance values for plant height, total tuber count per plant, phosphorus percentage in tubers, and potassium percentage in tubers, but lower for the remaining traits.

The broad-sense heritability values were high for plant height and the percentages of phosphorus and potassium in the tubers. A high heritability percentage for any trait offers a good opportunity for breeders to enhance these traits through direct selection. The expected genetic improvement values, as a percentage of the trait mean, were moderate for most of the studied traits.