Male maize gametophytes as a possible test system for radioecological monitoring

--Kravchenko, AN

In this study, male maize gametophytes taken from several zones of Moldova with different levels of radioactive pollution were analyzed. By means of morphocytological analysis three groups of characters were determined. These characters’ variability showed the degree of pollen sensitivity to different levels of radioecological pollution. The first group includes morphological characters of pollen grain such as perimeter, area, the smallest and the biggest diameter, and eccentricity. The second group includes morphocytochemical characters of the vegetative cell nucleus (size, the DNA quantity and chromatin dispersion). The third group includes the same characters but for the generative cell nucleus. It appears from this study that the first group of characters has the highest degree of variability and the third group the lowest one. Generally, results indicate that the male gametophyte of maize can be used in the elaboration of a test system for radioecological monitoring.