Determination of optimum dose of gamma rays for regeneration of irradiated rice callus. Screening for salt tolerance

Determination of optimum dose of gamma rays for regeneration of irradiated rice callus. Screening for salt tolerance. Callus were gamma irradiated with acute doses between 10 and 60 Gy, with fractionated doses at 2 x 10 Gy, 2 x 20 Gy and 2 x 30 Gy of one-hour intervals for recovery. Immediately after irradiation, callus were placed on differentation medium supplemented with 37.5% sea water. The highest shoots regeneration (55.3%) was obtained after 20 Gy treatment. The lowest shoots regeneration (24%) was obtained after 60 Gy. Fertility of plants was not parallel with total shoots formation. Plants obtained from irradiated callus with fractioned doses had high fertility. Fractioned dose of 2 x 30 Gy produced plants with 74% fertility. Acute dose at 60 Gy produced sterile plants. Based on the quotient 'number of shoots or fertilities per number of irradiated units', the calculated value for the 10 Gy irradiation was put at 1.00. The relative effectivity of gamma-rays for shoots formation at 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 2 x 10, 2, 20, 2 x 30 Gy was 0.61, 1.00, 1.01, 0.70, 0.63, 0.49, 0.44, 0.73, 0.70 and 0.46, respectively. The relative effectivity of gamma-rays for fertility at 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 2 x 10, 2 x 20, and 2 x 30 Gy was 0.40, 1.00, 0.75, 0.59, 0.40, 0, 1.43, 1.45 and 1.35 respectively. Considering to the highest relative effectivity of gamma-rays for shoots formation and plant fertilities, it was concluded that optimum dose of gamma-rays to induce salt tolerance was fractioned dose of 2 x 10 Gy. (author). 10 refs.; 1 figs