AN EMS-SENSITIVITY FACTOR IN MAIZE CONDITIONING ALBINO LEAF STRIPES

Y. Efron ¹

¹ Department of Maize Breeding and Genetics, Agricultural Research Organization, Newe Ya'ar Experimental Station, Israel

A description is given for a recessive EMS-sensitivity factor conditioning albino leaf stripes. In the homozygous condition, there is low frequency of spontaneous leaf stripes. EMS, depending on the concentration, increases markedly the frequency of the stripes in 100% of the treated plants. The effects of EMS, given to the seeds, starts to appear from the 6th to 7th leaf and persists in all the leaves throughout the life cycle of the M₁ plants. Only about 20–25% of the M₂ plants showed some variegation. These variegated M₂ plants were not distributed at random among the different ear-to-row M₂ rows.