Abstract: Taking the rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) without mutation as control, the changes of morphological parameters, photosynthesis and secondary metabolites in the line mutated by the retrievable satellite were investigated. The results showed that the morphological parameters of rosemary, including plant height, canopy size, number of branches, branch length and aboveground biomass, were significantly increased by the space mutation. Especially, the aboveground biomass of mutant line, which restricted the recoverable amount of rosemary, was 1.24 times than the control. Further study demonstrated that the improvement of photosynthesis capacity was an important reason of the change of morphological parameters in mutant rosemary, because significant increasing of chlorophyll content, maximum net photosynthesis rate, apparent quantum yield, and declining of light compensation point were found in mutant rosemary. The contents of carnosic acid, rosmarinic acid and essential oil, three mayor biological active substances, were significantly higher in mutant rosemary than in control. In addition, differences in component proportion were detected between the essential oils from mutant line and control. All the above results indicated that beneficial mutation of both biological and economic yields could be obtained in space mutagenesis of rosemary. It means that space mutagenesis breeding is feasible for rosemary.

Key words: Rosmarinus officinalis L., morphological parameters, photosynthesis, secondary metabolism