Back to Contents

Pak. J. Bot., 44(5): 1733-1739, 2012.

FREE FULL TEXT PDF

EFFECTS OF ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS ON SOME INDIGENOUS PLANT SPECIES–III. CAPPARACEAE AND CHENOPODIACEAE

SAHAR ZAIDI^1*, SURAYYA KHATOON² AND S. SHAHID SHAUKAT³

Abstract: To investigate the effects of electromagnetic fields of high tension wires 30 specimens of 11 species in two angiosperm families, Capparaceae and Chenopodiaceae were examined. The plants were collected under high tension wires of 132 kV, 220 kV and 500 kV within an area of about 10 meter. The same species as control specimens were also collected from areas free from electromagnetic fields. The plants were studied for PMC meiosis, meiotic products and pollen fertility. It is shown that with the increase in voltages of high tension wires, strength of magnetic field increases with increased meiotic abnormalities and pollen sterility. Significantly higher percentages of meiotic abnormalities were observed during PMC meiosis, such as stickiness, pairing disturbances, precocity, laggards, bridges and multipolar divisions etc. The differences of these abnormalities are found to be significantly different in test plants (exposed to EMFs) as compared to their respective controls (not exposed to EMFs). The study of meiotic products showed abnormal products in some cases; similarly pollen fertility showed comparatively higher percentages of sterile pollen grains in test plants in comparison with control plants. The pollen sterility of test plants is also significantly higher than control plants.

¹Department of Botany, Federal Urdu University of Arts, Sciences & Technology, Gulshan-e-Iqbal Campus, Karachi. Pakistan,

²Department of Botany, University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan

³Department of Environmental Science, University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan

Corresponding author’s e-mail: saharzee@hotmail.com