Randomness of chromosome breaks in bone marrow cells of fertilizer-fed mice, Mus musculus.

Three commonly used fertilizers, urea, single superphosphate and muriate of potash, induced chromosome and chromatid breaks in the metaphase chromosomes of bone marrow cells of fertilizer-fed Swiss albino mice, Mus musculus. The breaks caused by urea and phosphate were non-randomly distributed, since they were more frequent in the longer chromosomes than in the smaller ones, and more common in the distal region than in the juxtacentromeric and median regions. The breaks induced by muriate of potash were randomly distributed in both the length and region of the chromosomes.