Artifical fertilizations with uv-light and X-ray irradiated pollen in vicia faba

In this work, artifical fertilizations have been performed in Vicia faba (broad bean) plants with pollen submitted to X-rays of 600 and 1000 rad doses, and to ultraviolet (UV) light of 2537 A wavelength for 90 and 180 seconds. It was seen that irradiation of pollen with X-rays, especially with higher dose, causes fruit size to be smaller and the mean number of seeds per fruit to decrease. Similar results were obtained with UV irradiated pollen for 180 seconds. In comparison with the control, the number of seeds per fruit was prominently smaller in M1 plants which have been grown from the seeds obtained by artificial fertilization with irradiated pollen. So, it was concluded that UV and X-ray doses used in this work for pollen irradiation decreased fertility significantly in M1 plants. (author)