Abstract:The mutagenic effects of 60Co-γ irradiation at different doses on grafting survival rate and variation rate of the Fuji (Malus domestica Borkh.CV.Fuji) apple branches were studied and analyzed in this experiment. The results showed that the grafting survival rate and growth of grafted branches were influenced by 60Co-γ irradiation. After treated by 60Co-γ rays from 20 to 40 Gy, the survival rate decreased with the increasing of the treatment dose, shoots growth and leaf area reduced, and the number of binary-cross branches and more-cross branches increased significantly. Because survival rate of grafted branches irradiated with 30 Gy 60Co-γ rays was 49.2%, 30 Gy was identified as half lethal dose. Survival branches from grafted shoots after irradiated with 60Co-γ irradiation were used to identify the genetic variations with AFLP markers. Analysis showed that variation rate is 1.17%, most of variant shoots were distributed among binary-cross branches and more-cross branches. It provides evidence that there was correlation between the variation of DNA level and branch morphology. This study thus established a new method for speeding up breeding new cultivars of apple.