**2.22 Dwarf**

222 Gamma Radiation

Plate 4. Stable mutants (M3 generation)

Plant height of these mutants ranged from 15 to 20cm and had profuse branching at the base, which formed a dense umbrella like canopy (Plate- 4 ). There was significant reduction in number of days required for first flowering and pod maturity period.

The induced dwarfness is desirable agronomic trait, because plant density per unit area, will be very high. It will help for fast translocation of metabolites from source to sink (Auti, 2005). Such mutants are valuable for investigating plant gene function and developing new crop variety with lodging resistance (Wei *et al*., 2008).
