DOI: 10.22620/agrisci.2010.04.019
Abstract
Studies on the effects of radio frequency electromagnetic fields (RF EMF) on plants are few in number but the results suggest that plants respond to EMF used in mobile communications. The purpose of this work is to investigate the effects of prolonged base station EMF exposure on the enzyme activity in leaves of pea plants Pisum sativum L., variety RAN-1. Plants were divided into 3 groups of 5 plants: control, exposed and sham exposed. Exposed plants were irradiated for 14 days, 1 hour daily with a homogeneous electric component 42,6 V/m of 947,5 MHz continuous EMF simulating the emission of a BS during a rush hour. The activity of several respiratory enzymes (isocitrat dehydrogenase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and malic enzyme) and peroxidases (catalase, ascorbate peroxidase and guaiacol peroxidase) was measured.
The obtained results showed that prolonged exposure of pea plants during the dark period to homogeneous continuous electrical component of EMF radiation, simulating a base station during a rush hour, did not cause changes in the activity of respiratory and antioxidant enzymes in the leaves.