2016 Volume 81 Issue 4 Pages 447-453
Detailed meiotic studies have been carried out in 11 accessions of Eremurus himalaicus Baker belonging to family Liliaceae—an endemic medicinal plant of the Northwestern Himalayas. E. himalaicus, due to its excessive exploitation for edible uses, is living under stress and has therefore been listed in the Red Data Book of Indian Plants as a ‘rare’ species. Considering x=7 as the basic chromosome number for the species, E. himalacus revealed the diploid chromosome count of 2n=14. Out of 11 populations worked out cytologically, 3 populations of the species were normal in their meiotic behavior while the rest of the populations showed abnormal meiotic behavior. The phenomenon of cytomixis, presence of two to five nucleoli and various other meiotic abnormalities were observed in the form of unoriented bivalents, chromosome stickiness, late disjunction, laggards and bridges in eight populations. Earlier studies were limited to the counting of chromosome number, so these meiotic abnormalities were reported for the first time in the studied species. Further, the microsporogenesis was also abnormal leading to the formation of monad, dyads, triads and abnormal tetrads with the fusion among tetrads which ultimately leads to reduced pollen fertility.
