Effect of 2100 MHz and 2350 MHz electromagnetic field radiations on the growth and biochemical aspects in plants

Abstract

With an unparalleled growth of the communication sector, new technologies like 3G and 4G, functioning at higher frequencies are being used for the upgradation of communication. With this upgradation, along with the unprecedented increase in the number of mobile phones, there has been a tremendous growth in the number of base stations to sustain the growing cell phone users. As a consequence, there is an increase in high frequency electromagnetic field radiations (EMF-r) in the environment. n other words, the living organisms including plants are surrounded by a quotcloudquot of non-ionizing high frequency EMF-r. So far, most of the research has been done on the effects of EMF-r with frequencies ranging from 400-1800 MHz and not much has becn investigated at 2100 and 2350 MHz in case of plants. Thus, keeping these points in mind, we hypothesized that cell phone radiations at frequencies-2100 and 2350 MHz might also have the potential to cause adverse effects in plants. We, therefore, commenced a study to investigate the effects of 2100 and 2350 MHz EMF-r on the growth and biochemical aspects in plants. The observations of the study indicated that EMF-r exposure of higher durations affects the growth and development of plants and plants perceive these radiations as abiotic stress. newline