[Studies on hereditary variations of millet seed after high altitude balloon flight].

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To select high yield, high protein and fatty acid millet. METHOD: Air-dried seeds of millet were carried by high altitude balloon (HAB) for 8 h. Botany characteristics of these seeds were analyzed and studied after recovery. RESULT: Germinating potential rose 21.1%, germinating percentage reduced 5.2% as compared with the control; plant height was 6.8 cm lower than that of the control in SP1; while flag-leaf area and spike weight were 25% and 15.9% higher than those of the control respectively. Large-spike strains were stable in SP3 pregeny. In SP3(-2), the contents of seed protein and fatty acid were more than those of control; in SP3(-5), the average spike length was 5.8 cm, and the content of Fe element in seed was 61.5 mg/kg more than these of control; in SP4 superspike strains, spike character, chlorophyll content and photosynthetic rate were significantly higher than the control during growing phase and growing anaphase, photosynthetic rate in flag-leaf was over 27.9% higher than those in the control. CONCLUSION: New strains with high protein and fatty acid and high yield could be selected by HAB. The characteristics of these variations in the new strain is hereditable.