Preliminary Study on Ethyl Methane Sulfonate （EMS） Mutagenesis Conditions of Chenopodium quinoa Seeds

In order to make certain the optimal conditions for EMS mutagenesis treatment of quinoa seeds, the self-growing white quinoa seeds were used as the experimental material, and EMS buffer with 5 concentration gradients（0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, 2%, 2.5%） and 4 time gradients（8 h, 10 h, 12 h, 14 h） were set for mutagenesis treatment. By observing the germination and growth status of seeds continuously, relevant germination indexes were counted, and the semi-lethal dose was finally determined. The results showed that the seeds of quinoa were not sensitive to EMS at low concentration while the high concentration of EMS inhibited the germination potential and germination rate of quinoa seeds, and had a certain delay effect on seed germination. The concentration of EMS buffer, treatment time and their interaction had significant effects on seed germination potential and germination rate. After soaking seeds in distilled water for 2 h and treating seeds with 1.5% EMS concentration for 12 h, the optimal conditions for mutagenesis were obtained, and the relative fatality rate was 48.7%. In addition, the relative fatality rates of 2% for 8 h and 2% for 10 h were close to the half lethal dose, which were optional combinations.