A 5-day germination test is applicable to detect biological changes in irradiated wheat and barley at low doses. Seeds were irradiated at below 0.5 kGy, husked and placed on distilled water-moistend filter paper in a covered Petri-dish. Water was supplied everyday. To evaluate the growth rate, the length of shoots and roots was measured during germination. In wheat, the shoots of all samples grew well during 5 days, but the shoot length and the daily growth extent decreased with increasing doses. The roots of non-irradiated wheat showed the highest daily growth extent during 5 days and the root length was over 20 mm at 3rd day. In barley, the growth of shoots and roots was retarded at 0.3 kGy or more after 3 days. It was concluded that if the root length was 20mm or longer within 3 days, wheat and barley were identified as non-irradiated. The germination test was proved a promising screening method for the detection of irradiated wheat and barley.

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