ABSTRACT

X-ray is a form of ionizing radiation that leads to mutation in living organism. This project examines the effects of x-ray radiation on garden egg seeds (Solanum melongena L.) over a vast range of energy level to determine effects of radiation on garden egg seed germination and growth. Ngwa large and North variety of Solanum melongena L. seeds were exposed to X-ray irradiation at different dose in milligray (I, 2, 4, 6 and 8 Mgy.) to determine the effective dose for the two varieties subjecting the collected data for plant height and root length to graphical analysis. Doses of 2 Mgy and 6 Mgy were chosen for Ngwa large and dose 2 Mgy and 8 Mgy for North variety. Data records for plant height, number of leaves, leaf area and number of branches were collected in this trial and subjected to Analysis of variance (ANOV A).The analysis of variance calculated for Ngwa large for plant height showed significance difference. At 2 weeks after transplant, there was significant difference in the leaf number while at 4 weeks and 6 weeks after transplant there was no significance difference in the leaf area. For North variety, significance difference was observed at 4 weeks after transplant. There was no significant difference for leaf number as at 2 and 4 weeks after transplanting. There was no significant difference observed in the leaf area. The obtained results from the Analysis of variance showed that X-ray had effects on the leaves production of the selected Solanum melongena varieties, showed less effect on the branching and showed no effects on the growth of the selected variety. It could be concluded that from the outcome of this study that x-ray influenced the germination and growth parameters of the two selected S. melongena variety since the records for the un-irradiated seeds for different growth parameters records best than the irradiated seeds and also at germination time.