Meiotic consequences in Echinops echinatus growing on uranium mineralized area of Jharkhand, India

The chromosomal configurations observed in the Pollen grain Mother Cells (PMCs) of Echinops echinatus, growing on uranium mineralized area of Singhbhum Thrust Belt (STB) of Jharkhand, were photomicrographed and compared with those observed in the same species growing far away from the STB. Occurrence of clumped configurations due to surface stickiness, unequal segregation of chromosomes at Anaphase-I and pollen grains of various morphology (pollen polymorphism) were registered. 238U and 226Ra content in the whole plant of the Singhbhum Thrust Belt (STB) and its different organ was found to be higher than what it was observed in the control samples. The database has already been presented in the IX National Symposium on Environment, held at Bangalore (Singh and Mishra, 2000). (author)