Ionizing irradiation using electron beam to control importation of biothreat agents in geranium cuttings inhibits rooting Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Pelargonium hortorum Tango Dark Red, Tango Pink, Americana Red, and Rocky Mountain Lavender unrooted cuttings were subjected to Electron beam (E-beam) irradiation at 0 (control, no treatment), 0.61 0.04, 0.83 0.07, or 1.02 0.01 kGy (mean se, n = 4) in Expt. 1 and 0 (control, no treatment), 0.08 0.00, 0.16 0.00, 0.31 0.00, or 0.57 0.02 kGy (mean se, n = 4) in Expt. 2. Cuttings exposed to E-beam irradiation other than the control treatment did not root or form callus and exhibited a change in leaf color from green to red and eventually yellow. Our results suggest that the use of ionizing irradiation for preventing the accidental importation of biothreat agents through unrooted Pelargonium cuttings is not feasible.

published proceedings

  • HORTSCIENCE

author list (cited authors)

  • Mackay, W. A., Pemberton, B., Maxim, J., & Pillai, S. D.

citation count

  • 0

complete list of authors

  • Mackay, Wayne A||Pemberton, Brent||Maxim, Joseph||Pillai, Suresh D

publication date

  • June 2008