Comparing Effects of Electromagnetic Fields (60 Hz) on Seed Germination and Seedling Development in Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons

摘要

Various biological effects of exposure to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMFs) have been documented so far, but very little work has been carried out on plants. In this research, two states of seeds (wet, dry) of Brassica napus L. (dicot) and Zea mays L (monocot) were exposed to pulsed EMFs (15 min on, 15 min off) by magnitude of 1 to 7mT in steps of 2 mT and the highest intensity was 10 mT for 1 to 4 hours in steps of 1 h. Exposure to EMFs was performed by a locally designed EMF generator. Three replicates, with 30 seeds in each one were placed in germinator with 23°C temperature after treatment. The number of germinated seeds was registered on the 2nd day after moisturizing in Brassica napus and 6th day after moisturizing in Zea mays. Developmental growth characteristics including: root and shoot length, fresh and dried biomass weight of 7 days seedlings were measured. Seedlings grown from dry pretreated seeds of Brassica napus showed the most significant increase in developmental growth at 10 mT and seedlings grown from wet treated seeds showed the most significant decrease in developmental growth at 10 mT comparing to control (p < 0.05) we observed an overall stimulating effects of EMFs in Zea mays with respect to developmental growth characteristics and the most significant increase observed at 10 mT (p < 0.05). All experimental data suggested Monocotyledons are more resistant than Dicotyledons against EMFs as abiotic stress.