An EMS mutant library for carrot and genetic analysis of some mutants

Carrot is among the top-ten most economically important vegetable crops in the world. However, the gene pool of cultivated carrot is narrow and the collection and preservation of carrot germplasm are very limited in China. In this study, seeds of carrot inbred line "17005" were treated by ethyl methyl sulfone (EMS) to construct a mutant library. The conditions of EMS mutagenesis on inbred line "17005" were optimized, including treatment of seeds at 0.5% EMS for 6 h. We obtained a number of mutant lines showing inheritable morphological mutations in cotyledon, growth point, leaf, taproot in the vegetative phase and mutations in bolting time, primary stem height and color, secondary branch, flower and seed in the reproductive phase through M₂ and M₃. The F₂ segregating population from the cross of yellow taproot and purple-red epidermis taproot with wild type showed that these two mutants were controlled by single recessive gene respectively. The inheritable mutants can not only enrich the carrot germplasm, but also provide resources for the function research of carrot gene.