• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.490-495
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• 2013

Two chrysanthemum varieties, 'ARTI-purple' and 'ARTI-queen', were chronically irradiated with doses of 30, 50, 70, and 100 Gy for four weeks in gamma-phytotron, a long term irradiation facility. We investigated the growth, responses of antioxidant enzymes (ascorbate peroxidase, APX; catalase, CAT; peroxidase, POD; superoxidase dismutase, SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents under different doses of chronic-irradiation. The five plant growth measurements including plant height, number of leaves, internode length, stalk diameter and leaf thickness were investigated immediately after four week irradiation. The plant height (p<0.001), internode length (p<0.01), the number of leaves (p<0.001) and stalk diameter (p<0.05) were significantly decreased an increasing doses of gamma-ray. Among them, especially, the internode length was remarkably decreased showing the RD50 (Reduction Dose 50) at approximately 65 Gy. The antioxidant response after four weeks of recovery period, ascorbate peroxidase (APX) (p<0.01), superoxide dismutase (SOD) (p<0.01) and peroxidase (POD) (p<0.001) were significantly increased with an increasing dose of gamma-ray. And malondialdehyde (MDA) (p<0.01) contents showed the significant increase at the 70 and 100 Gy which means the oxidative stress was lasting for a considerable period. In this study, the 50 Gy irradiation as optimal dose showed higher growth than the $RD_{50}$, it also showed insignificant differences on the antioxidant responses and MDA contents. However, the 100 Gy dose showed lower growth than $RD_{50}$.