Meiotic Studies in Some Species of Pennisetum Pers. (Poaceae) from the Western Himalayas

Abstract

At present, cytological studies have been carried out on a population basis for assessing the genetic diversity in seven species of the genus Pennisetum, P. alopecuroides (n = 18), P. americanum (n = 7), P. flaccidum (n = 27), P. lanatum (n = 18, 21), P. orientale (n = 18), P. purpureum (n = 14, 18, 21) and P. ramosum (n = 5), from phytogeographically different areas of Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir in the Western Himalayas. For P. lanatum and P. purpureum, the chromosomal counts of n = 21 make first ever records of new cytotypes on a worldwide basis. In addition, P. lanatum and P. purpureum with n = 18 make new records in India. Both the cytotypes of P. lanatum and three different cytotypes of P. purpureum show some marked differences in their morphological features. Meiotic course is abnormal in almost all the species. The vary basis of the intraspecific genetic diversity, i.e. the variability of chromosome numbers, has been discussed not only for the Western Himalayas taxa, but also on India basis in light of worldwide data, pointing out slight differences in various parameters.