Abstract
Seeds of finger millet var. Co. 1 were treated with ethyl methane sulphonate. In the M1 generation of such treated material, asynaptic mutants were observed. Cytological studies revealed that asynapsis was medium-strong with a high frequency of univalents at diakinesis and metaphase-I, along with a few bivalent-like associations. Even in these bivalents, the association was very weak with end-to-end attachment of homologous chromosomes in a rod like fashion without the formation of any visible chiasmata. The asynaptic mutants were highly sterile, but a few progeny showed varying number of chromosomes suggesting the feasibility of developing aneuploid lines in finger millet.
