Comparing cytogenetic effects of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields in Brassica napus L and Zea mays L

Many biological effects of exposure to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMFs) have been documented, but little work carried out on plants. A meiotic study was performed on Brassica napus L as C3 plant and Zea mays L as a C4 plant exposed to electromagnetic fields. Our investigations were focused on plants grown from wet pretreated seeds with 3 and 10 mT for a 4 h exposure time and compared with the control plants of maize. Also 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 of canola. A significant difference was observed for meiotic characters studied among treatments. In canola the mean value of total, terminal, and intercalary chiasmata reduced significantly in plants grown from exposed seeds, indicating that EMFs caused reduction in the mean value of the genetic recombination. Other meiotic characteristics including ring bivalent and quadrivalent formation reduced significantly as well. In maize the mean value of total, terminal and intercalary chiasmata changed significantly in the plants grown from exposed seeds to 3 mT intensity, indicating increase in genetic recombination. Moreover, formation of ring bivalent and quadrivalent increased significantly. All results suggested these plants react differently in some aspects against EMFs as abiotic stress.