The present study was undertaken in order to find out the effectiveness and efficiency of gamma rays and EMS in chickpea. Seeds of Co-4 variety of chickpea (Cicerarietinum L.) were treated with gamma rays (20kR to 60kR) and EMS (10mM to 50mM). The biological damage was calculated in M1 generation based on seedling injury (I), pollen sterility (S) and mitotic aberrations (M). The M2 population was carefully screened for various chlorophyll mutations. Mutagenic effectiveness and efficiency was calculated based on biological damage in M1 and chlorophyll mutations in M2. Mutagenic effectiveness increased with the increase in dose/treatment. Intermediate treatments in general were found more efficient in causing less biological damage and inducing maximum amount of mutations. The order of efficiency was EMS>gamma rays.
