Radiosensibilidad de las especies de plantas tropicales: Carica papaya, Manihot dulcis y Swietenia humilis

Abstract

At a dose of 12 Kr of acute gamma radiation, the percentage of survival of papaya (Carica papaya) seeds was not appreciably different from the control Further experimentation showed that the LDs for papaya seeds was in the vecinity of 19 Kr. Three-month-old papaya plants could not survive at a chronic dose of higher than 600 r/day for three months. A chronic dose of 300 r/day was also lethal to the plants but required an irradiating period of more than three months Nodes of cassava (Manihot dulcis) were rather sensitive to acute gamma radiation, the projected LD, lay in the vicinity of 3 Kr. Preliminary tests with four-month-old mahogany (Swietenia humilis) plants showed that mahogany was relatively resistant to chronic radiation.