Investigating the effects of colchicine on seed germination and morphological traits in durum wheat (Triticum turgidum subs. durum Desf.)

A broader genetic diversity holds great promise for enhancing the productivity of durum wheat, especially under challenging environmental stressors. Establishing an improved genetic pool through the pre-treatment of durum wheat seeds with antimitotic agents, like colchicine, could play a pivotal role in boosting seed germination, seedling growth, morphological characteristics, and overall yield. This study explored the impact of colchicine on seed germination, growth, and morphological traits in two durum wheat cultivars (PDW-233 and DDW-47). For the experiment, presoaked seeds from each cultivar were exposed to different colchicine concentrations (0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.3%) over an 8-hour period. Quantitative traits such as germination percentage, plant survival rate, plant height, tiller number per plant, seeds per spike, and 1000-grain weight were meticulously measured in the treated plants. The results revealed considerable variability in these quantitative traits across the different colchicine treatments in both wheat varieties in the M1 generation. Significant alterations were observed across various concentrations, indicating colchicine’s potential for inducing genetic diversity within a single generation. These findings underscore the effectiveness of colchicine as a mutagenic agent capable of stimulating notable genetic variation, which, with precise selection, can lead to the identification and development of promising high-yield, stress-tolerant mutants in durum wheat. The results of this study suggest that rigorous selection and further breeding of desirable mutants could result in significantly improved and high-yielding durum wheat lines in subsequent generations. Thus, this approach may offer a viable pathway for enhancing durum wheat’s genetic resilience and productivity.