Studies concerning the effect of gamma radiation and magnetic field exposure on gladiolus

Gladiolus (Gladiolus sp.) is one of the most floral species cultivated over in the world and in Romania. There are many studies concerning the effect of gamma radiation on ornamental plants but little is known about the synergetic effect of gamma radiation and exposure to magnetic fields on Gladiolus. In our investigation we have tested the effect of gamma irradiation and magnetic field exposure of gladiolus corms and cormels of the cultivars: Her Majesty, Applause and Speranta. The corms and cormels were irradiated for 72 hrs with 137 Cs gamma source on cylindrical exposure geometry. At medium dose of 1 Gy has been accumulated for each corm and cormel. For each variety we used 10 corms and 30 cormels in five variants. The comportment of various varieties was evaluated by recording the following characteristics: length of roots and growth tip. Significant effect was obtained at the variants which was irradiated with 1 Gy gamma radiation and 3 Gauss magnetic fields