Cretescu I. et. al./Scientific Papers: Animal Science and Biotechnologies, 2013, 46 (1) 185 Response of Barley Seedlings to Microwaves at 2.45 GHz Cretescu Iuliana * , Rodica Caprita, Velicevici Giancarla, Ropciuc Sorina, Buzamat Genoveva Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine from Timisoara 300654-Timişoara, Calea Aradului 119, Romania Abstract The objective of the present study was to investigate the changes induced upon germination and growth rate, expressed by vigor index of barley seeds exposed to microwave (MW) treatment. As a microwave source was used a magnetron MWG20H, which emits radiation with a frequency of 2.45 GHz. In the experiment, barley seeds were exposed for 0s, 10s and 20s. The germination energy (GE) and germination (G), cotyledon length (CL), leaves length (LL) and roots length (RL) in cm were determined on the 3 th , 7 th and 14 th day after irradiation in order to estimate the influence of microwave treatment on them. The hypothesis was that seeds exposed to MW will behave differently than those unexposed. It was observed that the best results in terms of GE, G and vigor index (SVI) were obtained in barley seeds for the treatment with output microwaves power of 400W for 20s. Keywords: germination, genotype, growth, Hordeum vulgare L., microwave (MW) 1. Introduction Cereals play such an integral part in global agriculture and diet. More than 50% of our food comes from three cereals: wheat, maize and rice [1]. An important step forward in the feeding of the world was the green revolution. Advances in plant breeding and the adoption of highly efficient production systems bring about of fourfold increase in grain yield during the second half of the twentieth century. But a continued, sustainable increase will be hard to realize without introducing modern cereals biotechnology and strong determination towards limitation of cereals grain losses during shipment and storage. Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) was one of the most important crop species in the World and had been subject to considerable genetic studies. It was a diploid (2n=2x=14), largely self-fertilizing species with a large genome [2]. 1 Oza et al. [3] used the microwave in the estimation of crop area, growth and phonological * Corresponding author: Iuliana Cretescu, Tel: +40-256-277267, iulianacretescu@usab-tm.ro information crop condition and productivity assessment [4]. Most investigated is the radiation 2.45 GHz because it is absorbed by water molecules, present in all live cells. Microwave has thermal effects because of rising in temperature produced by the energy absorbed from oscillating electric fields [4]. When the electromagnetic microwave radiation is absorbed in tissues, it provokes ionic movement, rotation of dipoles and electron orbit distortion, which leads to heating [4]. The main advantage of microwave is fast and selective heating ability compared with the conventional heating methods. Few studies on the effect of microwave radiations on plants have been achieved. These studies were summarized as follows: studies on the effect of electromagnetic microwave irradiation (2.45 GHz) on wheat were conducted by Bhaskara Reddy et al. [4, 5] who also detected increased germination. The treatment with microwave radiation as a stimulation agent in agriculture is not enough investigated yet but the effects of microwave treatment has been investigated by Aladjadjiyan & Svetleva, 1997 [6] on bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and on some ornamental perennial species