Cytological Studies in the Genus Trigonella Linn

Abstract

1. In the genus Trigonella, male meiosis was studied in six species and mitosis with the help of root tip was studied in nine collections belonging to six species. All the species were diploid having n=8 and 2n=16, except T. polycerata where the chromosome number was n=22.
2. Meiosis was normal in all the cases. Chiasmata frequency/bivalent varied from 1.77 (T. foenum-graecum) to 1.98 (T. corniculata).
3. Total chromatin length varied from 16.36μ (T. cretica) to 33.05μ (T. foenum-graecum).
4. The intraspecific variability in chromatin length was observed in four accessions of T. coerulea, suggesting that the species was dynamic and always undergoing a process of change.
5. Species were classified according to classification of Stebbins (1971). Only four of the 12 catagories were represented, indicating that the degree of asym metry was low.