Homoeopaths treat disease using very low dose preparations administered according to the principle that “like should be cured with like.” Practitioners select a drug that would, if given to a healthy volunteer, cause the presenting symptoms of the patient. For example, the homoeopathic remedy Allium cepa is derived from the common onion. Contact with raw onions typically causes lacrimation, sti...

Interphase, preprophase, and prophase nuclei of meristematic cells of Allium cepa, Vicia faba, and Raphanus sativus are characterized by the presence of spherical bodies approximately 1 micro in diameter. These structures are Feulgen-negative but stain metachromatically with azure B, as the nucleolus, following fixation with glutaraldehyde. At the ultrastructural level, they consist predominant...

The genotoxicity of two widely used drinking water disinfectants, sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) and chlorine dioxide (ClO(2)), and a new disinfectant, peracetic acid (PAA, CH(3)-CO-COOH), was evaluated in three short-term plant tests: (1) induction of anaphase chromosome aberrations in the root cells of Allium cepa, (2) micronucleus induction in the root cells of Vicia faba, and (3) micronucleus ...

The aim of the present study was to assess the genotoxicity reduction in post vermicompost feed mixtures of bagasse (B) waste using earthworm Eisenia fetida. The genotoxicity of bagasse waste was determined by using Allium cepa root chromosomal aberration assay. Bagasse was amended with cattle dung in different proportions [0:100 (B0) 25:75 (B25), 50:50 (B50), 75:25 (B75) and 100:0 (B100)] on d...

Onion is one of the civilization’s oldest medicines and is described as the dynamite of natural foods. In the current day scenario, herbal medicines have gained global significance with both medicinal and cost-effective implications. Thus, scientific appraisal has turned out to be a prerequisite for recognition of physical fitness in nature. An exceptionally strong antioxidant, onion is the ric...

Onion, Allium cepa L. (Asparagales: Amaryllidaceae), crop fields grown for seed production require arthropod pollination for adequate seed yield. Although many arthropod species visit A. cepa flowers, for most there is little information on their role as pollinators. Small flower visiting arthropods (body width < 3 mm) in particular are rarely assessed. A survey of eight flowering commercial A....

Disinfection of surface drinking water, particularly water chlorination, produces by-products with potential genotoxic and/or carcinogenic activity. A study carried out at a pilot plant for drinking water disinfection of lake water revealed mutagenic activity of three different disinfectants (sodium hypochlorite, chlorine dioxide and peracetic acid) in different seasons using in situ mutagenici...

The genotoxic potential of the commercial herbicide Illoxan (containing 284 g/L diclofop-methyl) was determined by using chromosome aberrations in Allium cepa root tip cells. The EC50 value was determined as 150.00 mg/L using a root growth inhibition test and then the roots were treated with 37.50, 75.00, and 150.00 mg/L concentrations for 12, 24, and 48 h. The results indicated that Illoxan si...