Resumen:
Irradiation is a widely used physical agent in the treatment of seeds and other crop vegetative materials to induce mutations. Irradiation with 60Co is one of the alternatives for generating mutations, which is a genetic improvement process that is used to create new floral varieties through mutagenic changes. The effect of a mutation in ornamentals is very visible, and changes in flower shape, color, and size are the main indicators of mutation or presence of chimeras as a result of that process. In gladiolus (Gladiolus communis L.) there is no genetic material available which has a degree of resistance to the variety of pests that damage it. Given this situation, it is necessary to generate new varieties with desirable phenotypic characteristics and some degree of resistance. One possible alternative for inducing variability and improvement is the use of ionizing radiation. Therefore, a test was carried out on the Agricultural Sciences Faculty, “El Cerrillo” campus, to evaluate the effects of levels of radiation between 10 and 100 Gy using 60Co in the roja borrega and blanca borrega varieties of gladiolus to determine its effects on phenotypic characteristics (days to bloom, plant height días, greenness, and stalk thickness). The results show that treatment with 30 Gy (T3) stimulated the expression of the different phenotypic characteristics (plant height, stalk thickness, and greenness) above the control treatment in both varieties evaluated. This result was corroborated with a Grow reduction analysis. T3 (30 Gy) was found to be the best dose to stimulate growth and development above control levels, but in the blanca borrega variety, the greatest stimulation was of greenness and stalk thickness, while in the roja borrega variety it was plant height that was most affected. At doses of 80 to 100 Gy, there was a more than 30% reduction in growth compared to control in both varieties. In addition, in the white variety, chimeric petals were observed, which had a reddish tint, product of the stimulation by radiation. These results mark a reference level for the use of irradiation in gladiolus to evaluate different phenotypic parameters.
