1 GHz low-thermal microwaves effect on mitotic division of vegetal tissues

Low power microwave effects on Zea mays (corn) root meristeme tissues were studied in present work. Zea mays seeds exposed to 1GHz continuous wave for three different time durations and at two incident power levels were let to germinate post-exposure. Root tip cells in different mitotic division phases were investigated by specific cytological techniques in order to determine the mitotic index and the chromosomal aberration frequency comparatively, for the irradiated and control vegetal samples. Both mitotic and chromosomal aberration indexes were affected by the microwave exposure. A correlation between the exposure parameters and the effect intensity was obtained indicating a sensitivity of vegetal tissues on low-thermal microwaves.