Study of some cytotoxic chemicals on onion (Allium cepa L.) and Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.)

Chemicals that have adverse effects on normal cell division are called cytotoxic chemicals. Root Length, mitotic index and cytological studies of root tips in the presence of different cytotoxic agents were experimented on Onion (Allium cepa L.) and Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.). Different chromosomal abnormalities were observed from the root tip cytology. The root Length decreases most in higher concentration of the chemical with respect to control. The most frequent abnormalities are bridges, vagrant and stickiness of chromosome. Grass pea shows two additional abnormalities of pyknosis and karyorrhexis. The results show that the chemicals have toxic effects on both the samples. This study proves that besides onion, grass pea can also be used as effectively for cyto-genotoxic assessments for environmental toxic agents.