Features of pine tree’s growth and morphogenesis in the radiation effect zone of the Chornobyl NPP accident

Forest plantations can hold up to 90 % of radioactive precipitation in the conditions of radiation accidents. As a result, plants can obtain high doses of both external and internal irradiation by ionizing radiation. It is established that conifers are much more active accumulate 137 Cs and 90 Sr than deciduous trees. Under these conditions pine trees which are characterized by high sensitivity to many unfavorable factors, including ionizing radiation, noted anomalies in the formation of meristems, the death of apical buds, the formation of a large number of side buds with disordered orientation, observed the formation of truncated shoots with short or a giant needles that were thickened or more elongated than conventional, the formation of teratomas. The reason for the appearance of such morphological changes was the elimination of the central cells of the apical stem meristems and cells of transitional zone, while a significant part of the bud was formed from cells of the peripheral zone. The result was the removal of apical dominance and the formation of low-growing trees with many morphological disturbances. There was a violation of the division of cells in meristem cells of such trees: an increase in the number of K-mitoses, cells with chromosomal aberrations.