UV-B IRRADIATION EFFECTS ON BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES AND CYTOLOGICAL BEHAVIOR OF SAINFOIN (ONOBRYCHIS VICIIFOLIA SCOP.) GROWN IN VIVO AND IN VITRO

Abstract

To investigate the feasibility of UV-B irradiation (312 nm), seeds of Onobrychis viciifolia were exposed to five different intensities for determining the effectiveness of cellular behavior, nutritional constituents and biological activities in In vivo and In vitro growth cultures. The atomic spectroscopy analysis confirmed that concentrations of two macronutrients (P and N) improved after UV-B exposure as compared with control plants. Near infrared radiation conducted on both In vivo and In vitro plants showed significant differences on dry matter digestibility (DMD) and crude fiber (CF). Flavonoid and phenolic compounds were increased in both growth cultures by 40% intensity of UV-B irradiation, although In vitro plants had the higher compounds than intact plants. Increasing the UV-B irradiation intensity was also found to yield positive effect on anthocyanin. Observations on cellular behavior such as determination of nuclear and cell areas, mitotic index and chromosomal aberrations were proven to be essential in deducing the effectiveness of UV-B irradiation to induce somaclonal variation in sainfoin