Abstract:

Using the etiolation mutant y103 and the normal leaf colored plant w3 as materials, the main agronomic traits, genetic law, and chlorophyll content were studied. It was found that the mutant began to exhibit yellowing of leaf color during the cotyledon stage, with light yellow cotyledons and light yellow true leaves throughout the growth period. The plant was short and grew slowly, with significantly lower fruit quality than the normal plant, and the fruit quality was only 47.0% of the fruit quality of the normal plant. During the seedling and flowering stages, the chlorophyll content significantly decreased compared with the normal plants. A 3-generation population was constructed using a mutant and a normal leaf color inbred line as parents. The genetic law of the etiolation trait of the mutant was analyzed, and the results showed that the etiolation trait of the mutant was not completely controlled by a dominant single gene, which named YD. When the gene is heterozygous (YDga), it manifests as leaf yellowing.

Key words: watermelon, mutant, cotyledon etiolation, genetic law