Effect of Ionizing Radiations on Rice

Abstract

Rice seed and natural brown rice were irradiated with cobalt-60 gamma rays and cathode rays. Development of primary leaf and root was highly inhibited by irradiation more than 5×l0⁴ rep, whereas the growth of root was somewhat accelerated by 5×10³ rep. More than 1.6×l0⁶ rep was necessary for the complete destruction of the germination. Thiamine and riboflavin contents of rice seed irradiated with 10⁵ rep of cobalt-60 gamma rays were almost the same magnitude as the non-irradiated one, and 87 to 96% of microorganism on brown rice could be killed with 1×l0⁵ rep.