Cytogenetic effects of commercial formulation of cypermethrin in root meristem cells of Allium sativum: Spectroscopic basis of chromosome damage

Cypermethrin is a pyrethroid pesticide used on agricultural farms in Nigeria to control pests of fruits and vegetables but this is highly toxic to aquatic organisms. To determine toxicity of chemicals, Allium cepa is commonly used as an established bioassay however the bulb is used whole. Allium sativum in contrast is able to be split into cloves of smaller units hence this research aims to validate the potential of Allium sativum as a model plant for genotoxicity assessment. In this study, root growth inhibition test and chromosome aberration assay were used and the effective concentration (EC50) of cypermethrin was determined from the root growth curve. Furthermore, the mitotic activities of the root meristem were assessed using light microscopy. Treatment of root meristem of A. sativum with various concentrations of cypermethrin (0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.0 mg/ml) revealed a reduction in the root length and EC50 of 0.44 mg/ml. Also morphological changes such root wilting, dark spots, tenderness of the clove bases and discoloration of the roots were observed. Cytological studies showed a reduction in mitotic index with increasing cypermethrin concentration. Chromosomal aberrations ranging from abnormal metaphases: c-metaphases, disturbed spindles and vagrant metaphases; to abnormal anaphases: laggard chromosomes, chromosome breaks and multipolarities were also recorded. These aberrations reduced with increased concentration of the pesticide leading to the production of lesser number of dividing cells. These show that cypermethrin is genotoxic to the root meristem and A. sativum is a suitable model plant for detecting pyrethroid genotoxicity in plant.

Download Full-text

Evaluation of the cytogenetic effects of Quantis biostimulant in Allium sativum cells

Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca ◽

10.15835/nbha48211788 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 48 (2) ◽

pp. 681-691

Author(s):

Aurel L. OLARU ◽

Elena ROSCULETE ◽

Elena BONCIU ◽

Catalin A. ROSCULETE ◽

Ioan SARAC

Keyword(s):

Growth And Development ◽

Crop Production ◽

Allium Sativum ◽

Mitotic Division ◽

Genotoxic Effects ◽

Agronomic Efficiency ◽

Meristematic Cells ◽

Cytogenetic Effects ◽

Development Processes ◽

High Concentrations

The integration of plant biostimulants use to improve the efficiency of crop production can contribute to increasing the agronomic efficiency. Through this study we aimed to investigate the cytogenetic effects of the Quantis biostimulant on the meristematic cells of Allium sativum (garlic), at different concentrations (1, 1.5 and 2.5%) for 8 and 24 h. The results obtained showed that, at 1 and 1.5% concentration, Quantis induced the increase of the mitotic division intensity in A. sativum cells, both during at 8 and 24 h of treatment, compared to the untreated control variant. This fact suggests that, at the respective concentrations, Quantis improves the growth and development processes of the plant. In contrast, at 2.5% concentration, the index of mitotic division decreased by 36.6% (at 8 h), respectively by 64.9% (at 24 h of treatment), compared to the control. Also, at 2.5% Quantis, some chromosomal aberrations and nuclear anomalies were recorded: sticky and laggards’ chromosomes, C-mitosis, micronucleus, nuclear bud and nuclear dissolution. These results suggest that when is used in high concentrations, Quantis induces some cytotoxic and genotoxic effects on A. sativum, which can disrupt the plant growth.

Download Full-text