Effect of electromagnetic fields (EMF) on some growth parameters, protein content and genetic variations were investigated in early vegetative growth of Brassica napus L. (canola) and Zea mays L. (maize). The seeds of both plants were exposed to EMF treatments. Maize seeds were treated with 0, 3 and 10 mT for 4 h exposure time, and canola seeds were treated with 0, 1 mT for 1 h and 7 mT for 3 h, respectively. Results showed that seed germination increased significantly in maize, and decreased in canola seeds. Root length, shoot length, fresh weigh and dry weight increased significantly in maize and canola as compared to control. Total protein content in maize significantly increased at 3 mT and then decreased in 10 mT for 4 h, but in canola increased protein content under EMF treatments. RAPD analysis showed 104 total bands of 14 primers in maize, out of which 72 bands (about 69.2%) were polymorphic bands, and 65 polymorphic bands (51.6%) in canola were determined from a total of 126 bands. Primers showing maximum number of polymorphic bands were OPM-11 and OPI-07 in maize and OPA-10 in canola. It was found that seed pretreatment to low density of EMF could be used for improving growth and genetic variations in maize and canola plants.
A meiotic study was performed on Brassica napus exposed to electromagnetic fields. Our investigation used plants grown from dry pretreated seeds with 10 mT for 4 h, wet pretreated seeds with 10 mT for 2 h, and a control line. A lower seed yield was produced in the plants grown from exposed grains. However, the weight of 1000 seeds were higher in the plants grown from exposed grains. The highest value of the weight of 1000 seeds occurred in the plants grown from pretreated dry seeds with 10 mT for 4 h. The size of yielding seeds of plants grown from dry pretreated seeds with 10 mT for 4 h were higher than that of the control seeds and they were of uniform size. A significant difference was observed for meiotic characters studied among genotypes. The mean value of total, terminal, and intercalary chiasmata seems to be reduced significantly in plants grown from exposed seeds, indicating that EM significantly reduces the mean value of the genetic recombination. Other meiotic characteristics including ring bivalent and quadrivalent formation were also reduced significantly in the plants grown from treated seeds. Cytological abnormalities observed are chromosome stickiness, laggards, and micronuclei formation which differed significantly among the genotypes indicating their genetic differences. Cytomixis occurred in treated plants, which led to the formation of aneuploid cells.
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