LAP Lambert Academic Publishing Induced Mutagenesis by Chemical Mutagens and Heavy Metals: A Mean of Crop Improvement

Mutagenesis occupies a prime position in biological researches. It is the most important method for inducing alterations in qualitative and quantitative characters in a shortest possible time and provides good scope for selection. Scientists are working on different facts to accomplish a significant breakthrough in basic understanding of mutagenesis and also its applied value for the benefits of mankind. The induction of genetic variability becomes the main source of breeding work, thus replacing conventional breeding method which depends on the naturally occurring mechanism of genetic recombination. The effective selection of particular traits through mutagenesis is possible when the genotype component will be higher than environmental component with high genetic advance of the traits to next generation. In this study heavy metals have also been recognized as potent mutants as they posses genotoxic potential. Theses metal ions interact with the functional group of proteins, nucleic acids and polysaccharides and substitute other metal ions already bound to these functional groups that can lead to various metabolic disorders and reduction in growth. Heavy metal pollutants are stable