Effects of Acute Gamma Irradiation on Physiological Traits and Flavonoid Accumulation of Centella asiatica.docVIP

Molecules 2011, 16, 4994-5007; doi:10.3390/moleculeOPEN ACCESS molecules ISSN 1420-3049 /journal/molecules Article Effects of Acute Gamma Irradiation on Physiological Traits and Flavonoid Accumulation of Centella asiatica Sina Siavash Moghaddam 1, Hawa Jaafar 1,*, Rusli Ibrahim 2, Asmah Rahmat 1, Maheran Abdul Aziz 1 and Elizabeth Philip 3 1 University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; E-Mails: sina.siavash@ (S.S.M.); asmah@.my (A.R.); maheran@.my (M.A.A.) 2 Agrotechnology Biosciences Division, Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Bangi 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia; E-Mail: rusli_ibrahim@.my 3 Forestry and Environment Division, Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), Kepong, 52109 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; E-Mail: philip@.my * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: hawazej@.my; Tel.: +6-012-3723585; Fax: +6-03 Received: 8 April 2011; in revised form: 21 May 2011 / Accepted: 1 June 2011 / Published: 17 June 2011 Abstract: In the present study, two accessions of Centella asiatica (CA03 and CA23) were subjected to gamma radiation to examine the response of these accessions in terms of survival rate, flavonoid contents, leaf gas exchange and leaf mass. Radiation Sensitivity Tests revealed that based on the survival rate, the LD50 (gamma doses that killed 50% of the plantlets) of the plantlets were achieved at 60 Gy for CA03 and 40 Gy for CA23. The nodal segments were irradiated with gamma rays at does of 30 and 40 Gy for Centella asiatica accession ‘CA03’ and 20 and 30 Gy for accession ‘CA23. The nodal segment response to the radiation was evaluated by recording the flavonoid content, leaf gas exchange and leaf biomass. The experiment was designed as RCBD with five replications. Results demonstrated that the irradiated plantlets exhibited greater total flavonoid contents (in eight weeks) significantly than the control where the control also