GENOTOXIC EFFECTS OF TWO COMMONLY USED FOOD ADDITIVES OF BORIC ACID AND SUNSET YELLOW IN ROOT MERISTEMS OF TRIGONELLA FOENUM-GRAECUM

Food additives are the substances that are intentionally added to modify visual appearance, taste, texture, processing or the storage life of food. There has been significant controversy associated with the risks and benefits of food additives. The effect of different concentrations of food additives viz. boric acid and sunset yellow on the chromosomes of Trigonella foenum-graecum L. was investigated. Four concentrations of the two food additives (0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1%) were used for 3 hours. All concentrations of boric acid and sunset yellow showed mitoinhibitory effect in root tips of Trigonella foenum-graecum and increase in chromosomal aberrations. Various types of metaphasic and anaphasic aberrations were scored and it was found that metaphasic aberrations were more prominent than the anaphasic aberrations. The most observed aberrations induced by boric acid were stickiness at metaphase, bridges at anaphase, stickiness at anaphase, and scattering at metaphase, while the most prevalent aberrations caused by sunset yellow were precocious movement, unorientation at anaphase, scattering at metaphase and unorientation at metaphase. The result of present study clearly establishes the genotoxic behavior of boric acid and sunset yellow.