FLY ASH INDUCED MUTATION IN GREEN MANURE CROP Sesbania cannabina POIR

Increased use of coal for power generation results in large quantities of fly ash and other residues that require proper handling and disposal otherwise they may cause serious damages to our environment and may significantly affect terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem due to leaching of toxic substances from ash into the soil and ground water. Fly ash may contain toxic metals in various quantities. Therefore they may affect plants growing in the soil having these toxic substances. Many studies have been conducted on the effect of fly ash amendment on growth and morphology of plants but studies on the effect of fly ash on microsporogenesis of plants are still scars. Therefore present investigation was undertaken to study effect of fly ash amendment in soil on microsporogenesis of green manure crop Sesbania cannabina. For this purpose seeds were sown in soil amended with different levels of fly ash viz. 25, 50, 75 and 100%. Control was sown in normal garden soil. Once the budding had initiated young floral buds were fixed in Carnoy’s fixative for the study of microsporogenesis. Fly ash amendment induced various types of chromosomal aberrations and also causes a significant reduction in pollen fertility.