ABSTRACT
Weeds are a serious obstacle to the production of chickpea. Imazethapyr (IM) herbicide is used to controlweeds in most of the pulses, including chickpea. Mitotic abnormalities, chromosomal behavior, and proteincontent in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), due to IM treatment, were studied. The chickpea seeds (varietyJG-11) were germinated in sterilized Petri dishes, 9 cm in diameter, on Whatman filter paper moistened with10 ml of either Hoagland nutrient solution (control) or five concentrations of IM (0.5, 1, 2.5, 5, and 10 ppm).From the cytologic point of view, observations demonstrated that the mitotic frequency in root meristematiccells diminished, and that abnormality frequency increased parallel to the increase in concentrations of IM.The herbicide was highly mito-inhibitory and induced chromosomal irregularities, such as stickiness, lagging,scattering, and chromosome bridges. The endosperm and root-shoot axis’ protein content decreased withincreasing of the herbicide concentration in all the treatments. It can be argued that IM produces undesirableside effects during mitosis in chickpea’s somatic cells and biochemical parameters