Research in Biotechnology, 6(4): 19-26, 2015 ISSN: 2229-791X www.researchinbiotechnology.com Regular Article Cytogenetical and Morphological Variations in EMS treated Glycine max Linn. (Merr.) V.D. Mendhulkar 1 , Tejprakash Bhati 2 and Sopan N. Kharat* 3 1, 2, *3 Department of Botany, The Institute of Science, 15, Madame Cama Road, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India-4000 32 Corresponding Author Email: sopankharat@gmail.com Cytogenetical and morphological investigations have been carried out in EMS treated seeds of high protein containing important crop plant, Glycine max Linn., a member of papilionaceae family. The healthy and uniform seeds were treated with 0.02, 0.06 and 0.1 % of potent chemical mutagen, Ethyl Methane Sulphonate for 4 hrs. and 6 hrs. treatment durations. The dose dependent fluctuations in mitotic index, the Chromosomal aberrations, and variations in biochemical content were observed in EMS treated sample system. The EMS treatment with 0.1 % concentration for 6 hrs. treatment duration was noticed as potentially adverse as it induces high level of chromosomal abnormalities ( 9.96 %) in comparison to all other studied treatments. The aberration types like stickiness and single and multiple bridges were of common occurrence. Other chromosomal aberrations were precocious movement, chromosomal laggards and unequal distribution of chromosomes. The mitotic index was reduced to half, (6.77%), in 0.1 % EMS with 6 hrs. treatment duration when compared to control (12.42 %). The results on protein estimation were interesting since high EMS concentration at higher treatment duration indicated slight increase in the protein content (4.12 mg/100 gms.) over control estimate (3.8 mg/100 gms.). The morphovariants with respect to change in leaf margin (0.02 % EMS, 6 hrs.), early flowering (0.1 % EMS, 4 hrs.), chlorophylls chimeras (0.1 % EMS, 6 hrs.) and variation in protein content have been observed in the treated plants. Key words: EMS, Glycine max, Mitotic index and Chromosomal aberration. Cytological analysis with respect to either mitotic or meiotic behavior is considered to be one of the most dependable indices to estimate the potency of mutagen. Therefore investigation on mitotic aberrations and there genetic consequences constitute an integral part in most of the mutation studies. Hence, the present study has been undertaken to assess the mitotic consequences and primary effect of chemical mutagens in economically important plant Glycine max. Total protein content in treated material also has been studied as a part of the present work because most of the protein requirement is fulfilled from plant resources and it is possible to induce changes in protein quality and quantity by mutagenic treatments. Soybean is one of the important leguminous crops rich in proteins and oil (Schmutz et al., 2010). A number of experiments on selection and hybridization