Influence of a Permanent Magnetic Field on the Composition and Content of Sugars in Leaves and Storage Roots of Radish Plants of Major Types of Magnetic Orientation

The influence of a weak permanent magnetic field (PMF) with a strength of 400 A/m on the composition and content of sugars was investigated in radish (Raphanus sativus L.) leaves and storage roots of the two major types of magnetic orientation (TMO): North–South (NS TMO) and West–East (WE TMO). Plants were grown in spring and autumn in a greenhouse of the Institute of Plant Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences. The weak PMF changed the total sugar content in the leaves and storage roots of radish depending on the belonging of the radish plants to the NS or WE type of magnetic orientation, the growing season, and age of plants and the plant organ. The PMF was an environmentally significant factor, since radish plants of different types of magnetic orientation (NS and WE) had a different reaction to the effect of the field related to the peculiarities of their physiological status.     

Changes in the composition and content of lipids in the leaves of radish plants of different magnetic orientation induced by weak permanent magnetic field

The effect of weak permanent horizontal magnetic field (PMF) with the intensity of 403 A/m on the composition and content of polar and neutral lipids and their constituent FAs was investigated in the leaves of radish plants (Raphanus sativus L., var. radicula D.C.), cv. Rozovo-krasnyi s belym konchikom, which belong to two major types of magnetic orientation (TMO): North-South (NS) and West-East (WE), with the planes of the root grooves oriented along and across the magnetic meridian, respectively. In spring, PMF reduced the level of total lipids in the NS plants and elevated it in the WE plants; in autumn, the content of total lipids in the NS plants increased in the NS plants and decreased in the WE plants. In spring, the ratio between phospholipids and sterols, which indirectly points to enhanced fluidity of membrane lipid bilayer, increased in the plants of both TMOs, while in autumn, it increased only in the NS plants. In the control plants, the relative content of unsaturated FAs, including linolenic and linoleic acids, was greater in the WE plants than in the NS plants. PMF elevated the content of FAs in the leaves of the NS plants and did not affect their level in the WE plants. It was concluded that weak horizontal PMF differently (and sometimes oppositely) affected the content of lipids in the leaves of the NS and WE radish plants, apparently due to their different sensitivity to the effect of the magnetic field associated with their physiological status.     

Effect of Choline Chloride on the Lipid Content and Composition in the Leaves of Principal Magnetically-Oriented Radish Types

The effects of radish seed treatment with choline chloride on the number and weight of leaves, the weight of roots, as well as the content and composition of polar and neutral lipids and their component fatty acids in the leaves of principal magnetically-oriented types (MOTs) of radish (cv. Rosovo-krasnyi s belym konchikom), that is, North–South (NS) and West–East (WE) ones, were investigated. It was shown that seed treatment with 1% choline chloride increased the proportion of WE MOT in plant population. In spring and in autumn, this treatment increased the weight of roots of the NS MOT plants, but did not affect this index in the WE MOT plants. In the spring NS MOT plants, choline chloride treatment did not change the absolute content of polar lipids as compared to the control, but in autumn, this index increased. Meanwhile, in the WE MOT plants, it increased in spring and did not change in autumn. In the spring NS MOT plants, the content of neutral lipids increased, but in the autumn plants, it did not change. At the same time, in the WE MOT plants, this index decreased both in spring and in autumn. Seed treatment with choline chloride resulted in a substantial increase in the total content of phospholipids, in particular, that of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine, in the NS and WE MOT plants sampled both in spring and in autumn. In addition, the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids, as well as that of linolenic to linoleic fatty acids, somewhat increased in the NS MOT leaf lipids, but decreased in the WE MOT ones. Presowing treatment of radish seeds with choline chloride variously and sometimes oppositely affected the content and composition in the NS and WE MOT leaf lipids. This seems to be caused by different response of these MOTs to the environmental factors.