Colchicine induced polyploidy in Common Ice plant Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L

The aim of this research was to obtain optimum concentration with mutation breeding techniques by using colchicine for polyploid induction in the common ice plant Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L. The common ice plant Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L wild type seed were soaked in five levels of colchicine concentration: 0% (control), 0.01%, 0.05%, 0.10% and 0.20% for 24 hours. Seeds were germinated in petri dish using growth medium with compound of 1.15 gr ml half strength MS salts, 0.5 ml B5 vitamins, 0.2% (w/v) Sucrose 1gr, 25 mg L −1 myo-inositol and Agar. After 15 days, seeds germinated and then the young plant were transferred to a fresh medium soil. The observation parameters consisted of leaf thickness, width of the leaf, and lenght of the leaf, calculated from 1 st month until 8 th month. The observational data obtained were analyzed in variance and if the treatment has significant effect, then the follow up test will be done with DMRT test at 95% confidence level. For polyploidy analysis was conducted using Flow Cytometry. The results show that colchicine can affect the vegetative growth and the number of chromosomes from Mesembryanthemum cristallinum L. plants. The colchicine treatment of 0.10% was the best treatment compared to other treatments in the parameters of the length, width and thickness of the leaves. Use of colchicine treatment of 0.10% changed the chromosome number of the Mesembryanthemum cristallinum L. plant from diploid (2n = 18) to Octaploid (8n = 108).