Amir Aynehband and Khavar Afsharinafar
Amaranth seeds of lines D-136, K-432 and K-433 were subjected to different gamma irradiation doses (i.e. 0, 100, 150, 200 and 250 Gy) and germination characters of these lines were studied at Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Iran. The experiment was designed as a split plot design with three replications. Amaranth lines and gammarays were allocated to main plots and sub-plots, respectively. The results revealed that seed germination percentages and seedling shoot and root length decreased with increasing dose of gamma-ray. The 250 Gy gammaray dose in particular had a pronounced effect on these germination parameters than others, probably because of injury it might have caused to the seed or seedling of the amaranth. Although, gamma-ray increased the germination index of amaranth seeds but the subsequent length of shoot and root of seedling were markedly decreased. There was a decrease in shoot and root length of amaranth seedling by increase gamma-ray doses. These results indicated that germination traits of amaranth lines seeds were sensitive to increase in gamma-ray, even though, its exposure to the lower doses of gamma-rays.
