Effect of 60Co γ ray radiation on tissue culture of gardenias

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the mutagenic effect of 60Co γ radiation on the tissue culture of medicinal gardenia seeds. Four 60Co γ radiation doses were selected to irradiate the fruits of the gardenia jasminoides obtained from Linhai No. 1 and those of the wild jasminoides obtained from Wugang, and then the treated seeds were tissue cultured. The rate of callus, mortality, adventitious bud differentiation, and adventitious root differentiation, and the change in the structure of the leaf tissue under different radiation doses were observed and compared. With the increase in the 60Co γ radiation dose, the callus rate of the Linhai No. 1 gardenia decreased, whereas that of the Wugang wild gardenia increased under a radiation dose of 40 Gy. The adventitious bud differentiation rate and rooting rate of the two types of gardenias decreased after radiation. The semilethal dose for the “Linhai No. 1” gardenia was 20~40 Gy and that of the Wugang wild gardenia was approximately 40 Gy. Different degrees of changes were observed in the stomata of the leaves of the two gardenias, and their guard cells were found to shrink; the most significant differences were observed under the radiation dose of 40 Gy. The “Linhai No. 1” and Wugang wild gardenias that were treated under 60Co γ radiation emerged and grew normally with a higher rooting rate, indicating that 60Co γ is a more suitable radiation dosage.

Keywords

• 60co γ ray radiation
• gardenia
• tissue culture