Effects of low dose gamma irradiation of long period storage tomato seeds on germination percentage and seedling growth

Abstract

Low dose gamma irradiation was used to study stimulation effects on germmation percentage and seedling growth of long period storage tomato seeds. Irradiation dose of Co-60 source ranging from 0 (control), 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 Gy were used to rrradiated 2 years-storage tomato seeds. After irradiation, the seeds were planted in tissue paper. On the eight days of germmation, germmation percentage, seedling length and root length were measured. The result shows that the germmation parameters of the tomato seedssigmficantly mcreased when rrradiated with 20 Gy of gamma rays. This study may be useful for stimulating the germmation percentage of tomato seeds stored for a long period.