Paper Title
The Improvement Of Local Cultivar Sorghum (Shweni-15) With The Aim Of Bioethanol Production Through Gamma Radiation

Abstract
Induced mutagenesis has played an important role in the improvement of Sorghum. The objective was to study some quantitative traits related with high yield biomass among selected in M2 mutants for bioethanol production. A locally adapted cultivar Sorghum (Shweni-15) was irradiated with doses (0Gy- 800Gy) from Gamma ray 60Co source. Some promising mutants obtained in the M2 progeny included chlorophyll mutation (albina, striata, viridis), seeds mutation (small, big, white spotted, brown) and morphological mutation (early maturing, narrow leaf type, compact leaf type and dwarf plant).The early mutant matured (10) days earlier than control. The total highest frequency was found in 400 Gy. Dwarf mutant showed nearly two fold decrease in plant height as compared to high brix mutant. The biggest stem width was observed in compact leaf mutant. Among selected mutants, the most striking for bioethanol production traits were showed in high brix mutant at 300 Gy. High brix mutant showed about two fold increases in stalk weight, juice extraction and brix % value as compared to control. Small seeds mutant produced nearly double the number of seeds compared with the control. In big seed mutant and white spotted mutant, seed size increased about 35% as compared to control. The maximum grain yield was found in big seeds mutant. Keywords- Sorghum, morphological mutation, Gamma radiation, bioethanol production