Abstract
Forests around the world are an essential part of the ecosystem, and people, particularly in developing countries, rely entirely on forest products for their various kinds of needs. These products also supply timber and non-timber commodities essential for income, nutrition, and health. Dalbergia latifolia Roxb., commonly known as Rosewood, is native to low-elevation tropical monsoon forests in eastern India and is classified under the vulnerable category by the IUCN. Phenological and cytological study of this plant has been done on selected trees from its natural populations. The trees (Tdl01-Tdl05) exhibited meiotic disturbance in wild plants across various geographic locations, significantly impacting the chromosomal architecture during metaphase, anaphase, and telophase stages. Range of different chromosomal abnormalities, viz., stickiness, scattering, unorientation, laggard, and precocious movement, etc., were recorded. During cell division, certain chromosomal anomalies, which result in the acquisition or loss of individual chromosomes, frequently cause stunted growth and deformed traits lead to morphological and genetic variations. The presence of micronuclei in this plant and syncite formation was the key observation irrespective of genotypic diversity. The frequency of micronuclei was 0.37 ± 0.09 % in Tdl04, whereas it was 0.39 ± 0.09 % in Tdl05 but absent in other selected trees. This study will be very useful in screening the polyploid individuals among the populations as well as mass multiplication of polyploids at the field level. Since the current study aims to undertand the cyto-morphology through the pollen mother cells, including micro sporogenesis and pollen fertility, which can be utilised for tree breeding programs.