Study of Some Cytotoxic Chemicals on Onion (Allium cepa L.) and Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.)

Abstract

Chemicals that have adverse effects on normal cell division are calledcytotoxic chemicals. Root Length, mitotic index and cytological studies ofroot tips in the presence of different cytotoxic agents were experimented onOnion (Allium cepa L.) and Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.). Differentchromosomal abnormalities were observed from the root tip cytology. Theroot Length decreases most in higher concentration of the chemical withrespect to control. The most frequent abnormalities are bridges, vagrant andstickiness of chromosome. Grass pea shows two additional abnormalities ofpyknosis and karyorrhexis. The results show that the chemicals have toxiceffects on both the samples. This study proves that besides onion, grass peacan also be used as effectively for cyto-genotoxic assessments forenvironmental toxic agents