Effect of radiation-degraded chitosan on plants stressed with vanadium

The toxicity of vanadium (V) and the effect of chitosan has been investigated on soybean, rice, wheat and barley. Wheat and barley were sensitive to V than rice and soybean but all seedlings of these plants were damaged at 2.5 μg/ml V (in VCl 3 ). These damages were reduced by application of radiation-degraded chitosan. The recovery of growth and reduction of V levels in seedlings were obtained by the treatments with 10–100 μg/ml chitosan irradiated at 70–200 kGy of γ -rays in 1% solution. The reductions of V and Fe contents in plants were due to the ability of chitosan to form chelate complexes with metals in solution. The result of BAS analysis shows that the absorption and transportation of 48 V to the leaf from root was suppressed with irradiated chitosan. Therefore, it can be concluded that chitosan irradiated at suitable doses (ca. 100 kGy) is effective as plant growth promoters and heavy metal eliminators in crop production.