The effects of gamma radiation are investigated by studying plant germination, growth and development, and biochemical characteristics of maize. Maize dry seeds are exposed to a gamma source at doses ranging from 0.1 to 1 kGy. Our results show that the germination potential, expressed through the final germination percentage and the germination index, as well as the physiological parameters of maize seedlings (root and shoot lengths) decreased by increasing the irradiation dose. Moreover, plants derived from seeds exposed at higher doses (≤0.5 kGy) did not survive more than 10 days. Biochemical differences based on photosynthetic pigment (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoids) content revealed an inversely proportional relationship to doses of exposure. Furthermore, the concentration of chlorophyll a was higher than chlorophyll b in both irradiated and non-irradiated seedlings. Electron spin resonance spectroscopy used to evaluate the amount of free radicals induced by gamma ray treatment demonstrates that the relative concentration of radiation-induced free radicals depends linearly on the absorbed doses.
The present results suggested that seed treatment with gamma radiations (0-30 Gy) was effective in stimulating plant growth and development, as well as the content of assimilatory pigments. At a higher dose of 70 Gy, there was a drastic reduction in the length of shoots and roots and also in the total chlorophyll content. These observations confirm that ionizing radiation stimulates physiological parameters up to certain low doses, and then it inhibits these parameters at higher doses.
In order to study the effects of gamma rays on germination indices i.e. germination index (GI), total germination (GT) and thegermination energy (GE), of maize hybrid, Turda Star current experiment was conducted. Dry seeds of Turda Star maize hybrid wereirradiated with 2, 5, 15, 30 and 50 Gy, using a 60Co-gamma radiation source.Results showed that gamma irradiation affected all the above mentioned parameters except germination percentage. Totalgermination and germination energy was significantly affected at higher doses of gamma rays. However, increasing doses of gammarays did not have significant effects on seed germination percentage. The other growth parameters showed declining tendency withincreasing doses of gamma irradiation.
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