The experiment was carried out during the years of 2021 and 2022 at the Nursery of Floricultural and Ornamental Plants, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University, Egypt.
Seedling roots of Celosia argentea L. var. spicata were soaked with different Diethyl Sulphate (DES) concentrations, i.e.0, 200, 400 and 600 ppm for 30 and 60 minutes to study the effect of DES on the morphological characteristics, phytochemical composition as well as the possibility of mutations induction using ISSR marker technique.
The concentration of 200 ppm for 30 min. increased significantly the anthocyanin concentration in the leaves in the first generation and the peroxidase activity in the second one, while 200 ppm for 60 min. increased significantly the alkaloids concentration in the leaves in the second generation. DES treatment at 400 ppm for 60 min. increased significantly the alkaloids concentration in the leaves in the first generation and the phenols concentration in the second one. The DES concentration of 600 ppm for 30 min. increased significantly the anthocyanin concentration in the inflorescence in the first generation.
Using all concentrations DES for 60 min. increased significantly the leaf area. The anthocyanin concentration in the inflorescence was increased significantly in the second generation using the concentration of 600 ppm for 60 min..
Some variations in the habit of growth, leaf form and inflorescence structure were observed in both generations.
ISSR marker- PCR technique was able to detect mutations in a plant Celosia argentea L. plants.