Studies on induced mutants with reference to species relationships in some tetraploid Triticums.

A mutational analysis of five tetraploid species of Triticum was carried out to study different types of systematic mutants. Rare systematic mutants viz., free-threshing mutants and the timopheevioid mutant of T. dicoccum, polonicum-type mutants of T. durum, turgidum-type mutants of T. carthlicum and durum-type mutants of T. turgidum and polonicum, which occurred with consistently high frequencies, are discussed in relation to the phylogenetical interrelationships of these species. The study supports Mac Key's (1966) proposal that all these species would be best grouped as sub-species of Triticum turgidum.