JANA, BALARAM1*, NABARUN GHOSH2, A. CHATTERJEE1, and DON W. SMITH3. 1CAS, Department of Botany, University of Calcutta, Calcutta-19, India; 2Department of Life, Earth and Environmental Sciences, West Texas A & M University, Canyon, TX 79016; 3Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203. - EFFECT OF ARSENICUM ALBUM (Arsenious Oxide, AS2O3), A HOMOEOPATHIC DRUG AS A POTENTIAL MUTAGEN ON CORCHORUS OLITORIUS L. (JUTE).
Arsenic is a deadly poisonous metalloid. The main sources of arsenic
in soils are the parent materials from which they are derived. Arsenic
exists in water always in ionic forms (H2ASO-4 H2ASO-3) and the water
is used for the cultivation of various crop plants (rice, soybean,
tomato, cotton, tobacco etc.). The Arsenic ions (H2AsO4) absorbed by
the plants might have effects on physiological, biochemical as well as
cytogenetical system of the plant. The various forms of arsenic
compounds applied in the cultivation field as fungicides, pesticides,
herbicides as well as plant defoliants having impact on the crop
plants as well as on the whole ecosystem. The homoeopathic drug
Arsenicum album, prepared from the deadly poisonous Arsenious Oxide
(ASO3) was applied in dilutions of different potencies (10-3 to
10-200000) on seeds of the commercially jute yielding plant
Corchorous olitorius Linn var. JR0 632. Viable seeds were
soaked in a solution prepared by adding 10 drops (one drop=0.06 ml) of
the drug of specific dilutions to 50 ml of distilled water for 12
hours. The treated seeds were washed thoroughly and allowed to
germinate. The growth and behavior of the plants were noted from
seedling stage up to maturity. Inheritance studies were done through
progeny trial in the successive generations. These include tall
plants, dwarf plants, bifurcated stem, bushy head, branched stem,
broad leaves, dark green and yellowish green leaves, early and late
flowering plant, fruit mutants, suppressed leaf mutant (leaf gap) and
coppery red plant with notched petals. Although majorities of these
mutants are reported to be available after treatment with ionizing
radiation, at least a few were considered to be new and these were not
reported earlier. This investigation reveals that the homeopathic drug
prepared from Arsenious-Oxide in ultra-diluted potencies is capable of
inducing mutation in plant system like jute.
Key words: ARSENICUM ALBUM (Arsenious Oxide, AS2O3), CORCHORUS OLITORIUS L. (JUTE), MUTAGEN