Volume 6 Number 2 2012

CONTENTS AND ABSTRACTS

Saeed Zahedi, Mehdi Mehrpoush, Hossein Vaezzade, Musa Zarei Dagesaracki, Seyed Mehdi Hosseini (Iran) LC₅₀ Determination and Copper and Cadmium Accumulation in the Gills of Kutum (Rutilus frisii kutum) Fingerlings (pp 71-76)

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Original Research Paper: Water pollution by metals and subsequent fish contamination are considered to be severe problems with detrimental ecological consequences. The purpose of the present study was to determine the median acute toxicity (LC₅₀) of copper (Cu) and cadmium (Cd) in kutum, Rutilus frisii kutum fingerlings. Also, using sub-lethal tests, metal accumulation and gill ion changes were evaluated. Fingerlings (1.1 ± 0.25 g) were exposed to different concentrations of CuSO₄·5H₂O and CdCl₂.2·5H₂O in the static bioassay OECD test. In definitive tests, fish were exposed to nominal concentrations of 0.127, 0.229, 0.330, 0.432, 0.534, and 0.636 mg/l of Cu and 3.938, 6.893, 9.847, 12.801, 15.755, and 18.709 mg/l of Cd. Results from a Probit analysis showed that 96-h LC₅₀ values were 0.45 and 12.22 mg/l for Cu and Cd, respectively. Semi-static sub-lethal tests were conducted with nominal concentrations of 0, 12.7, 25.4, 50.9, and 101.8 µg/l of Cu and 0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, and 1 mg/l of Cd for 4 days. Significant accumulations were observed in gill Cu/Cd levels in all treatments in comparison to the controls (P < 0.05) with a maximum average of 22.32 ± 1.25 µg Cu/g gill wet weight at 12.7 µg Cu/l treatment and 6.18 ± 0.44 µg Cd/g gill wet weight at 1.0 mg Cd/l treatment. Finally, no significant (p>0.05) changes were observed in gill sodium and calcium contents during Cu/Cd exposure. In conclusion, Cu is more toxic than Cd for kutum, and it has higher uptake in the gills.

Yones Khaledian, Sohaila Ebrahimi, Hamed Bag Mohamadi (Iran) Impact of Urbanization and Land Use Changes on Water Geochemical Properties. A Case Study: Gharaso River in Golestan Province, North of Iran (pp 77-83)

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Original Research Paper: Rapid growth of urban populations and the expansion of urban areas in the north of Iran have led to changes in land use and subsequently changes in water quality of the Gharaso River in Golestan Province. Thus, the aim of this research was to investigate the role of urbanization and land use change on water quality in seven stations (Siahab, Angirabad, Shastkalateh, Yasaqi, Naharkhoran, Abgir and Poleordogah). In this paper, principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis were used to investigate the water quality of the Gharaso River. Water samples collected every month over a ten-year period from 7 sampling stations, along a 50 km section of Caspian Sea that is under the influence of anthropogenic and natural changes were analyzed. The highest pollutions were equal with, electrical conductivity 1448.6 and 1127.5 (mmho/cm), total dissolved solids 911.16 and 722.3 (mg/l), bicarbonate 293.37 and 331.83 (meq/l), chloride 221.7 and 139.56 (meq/l), calcium 81.74 and 93.44, sodium 150.7 and 86.49 (meq/l), potassium 6.9 and 14.31 (meq/l), sodium adsorption ratio 2.83 and 1.9 (meq/l), temporary hardness 230.6 and 262.19 (mg/l), total hardness 404.59 and 370.6, in the Siahabad and Naharkhoran, respectively, sulfate 195.6 and 153.9 (meq/l), magnesium 52.8 and 40.34 (meq/l), in the Siahabad and Abgir, respectively. The highest pH was 7.8 in the Naharkhoran station. The results indicated that water quality in Siahab and Naharkhoran stations was in the poorest quality among other stations because of anthropogenic effects. The best water quality was in Shast Kalateh station because there were no changes in the land uses. The Gharaso River joins the Caspian Sea creating sediment problems and an increasing threat to human and marine health.

Mukesh Kumar Kanwar, Renu Bhardwaj, Sikandar Pal Chowdhary, Priya Arora, Subodh Kumar (India) Nickel-induced Synthesis of Castasterone and 28-Homocastasterone in Brassica juncea L. (pp 84-89)

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Original Research Paper: Heavy metals in the environment are increasing at an alarming rate. Metals like Cu, Zn and Ni are essential for the growth of plants, although elevated levels of these metals result in growth inhibition and toxicity symptoms. Plants possess a range of cellular mechanisms that may be involved in the detoxification of heavy metals and thus tolerance to metal stress. The concentration of these heavy metals in the environment has increased drastically, posing problems to the health of organisms. Plant growth regulators provide protection from various stresses. Brassinosteroids (BRs) are an important group of steroids hormones which are involved in the amelioration of several stresses. Aiming to understand the role of BRs under heavy metal stress, plants of Brassica juncea L. were grown in pots at the Botanical Garden of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. The plants were subjected to various concentrations of Nickel (0.0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 mM) and harvested on the 45^th day to observe the synthesis of these hormones. The GC-MS characterization of the compounds after physio-chemical analysis revealed the presence of castasterone (0.018 and 0.022 ug/Kg FW) and 28-homocastasterore (0.014 to 0.029 ug/Kg FW) in the leaves of B. juncea L. plants.

Sonia Sharma, Adarsh Pal Vig (India) Genotoxicity of Atrazine, Avenoxan, Diuron and Quizalofop-P-ethyl Herbicides using the Allium cepa Root Chromosomal Aberration Assay (pp 90-95)

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Original Research Paper: Cytogenetic effects of different herbicides viz. Atrazine, Avenoxan, Diuron and Quizalofop-P-ethyl (QPE), were evaluated in the root tip meristem cells of Allium cepa. In the Allium root growth test, the effective concentration (EC₅₀) value was determined as approximately 0.5 ppm in the case of Atrazine and Avenoxan and 1.0 ppm in the case of Diuron and QPE herbicides with a control for each combination. Mitotic index decreased with increasing herbicide concentration at each exposure time. In anaphase-telophase cells, the total percentages of different chromosomal aberrations like stickiness, bridges, break(s), ring chromosomes, vagrant chromosomes, c-mitosis, delayed anaphase, laggard(s) and micronuclei at high concentration (1 ppm) were calculated as 31.85% (Atrazine), 29.94% (Avenoxan), 36.66% (Diuron) and 41.04% (QPE). The total number of chromosome aberrations increased as herbicide concentration increased. Micronucleated cells were observed at different stages of the cell cycle. The frequency of the micronucleus was markedly higher at 1 ppm than at other test concentrations.

Raj Kumar Salar, Jitender Kumar, Suresh Kumar (India) Isolation and Evaluation of Fungal Strains from Textile Effluent Disposal Sites for Decolorization of Various Azo Dyes (pp 96-99)

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Original Research Paper: The potential of 10 indigenous fungi isolated from soil samples of dye disposal sites was evaluated to decolorize textile azo dyes viz., Reactive Blue MR, Orange M2R, Yellow M4G, Black HFGR and Red M8B. In pure culture, it was observed that Humicola insolens, H. brevis, Aspergillus terrus, A. flavus, A. niger and Rhizopus sp.were efficient in decolorizing textile dyes. The study also depicted that Rhizopus sp. was highly efficient in decolorizing (81.01%) a mixture of 5 dyes used in the present investigation followed by a fungal consortium consisting of all the ten fungal strains (78.73%). Recalcitrant dye yellow M4G was also efficiently degraded by fungal consortium (55.76%) compared to pure cultures. This study reinforces the potential of indigenous adapted fungal consortia for the decolorization of textile effluents.

Sanjeev K. Singh, Asha A. Juwarkar (India), Ackmez Mudhoo (Mauritius), Kirti V. Dubey (India) Remediation of Chromium-Contaminated Soils Using Pseudomonas aeruginosa Strain BS2 (pp 100-105)

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Original Research Paper: The bioremediation of chromium-contaminated soil by a rhamnolipid biosurfactant produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2 has been explored through column studies using uncontaminated soil spiked with toxic concentrations of heavy metals i.e. 1000 mg/kg chromium. Results on removal of chromium from the spiked soil by using di-rhamnolipid and tap water have shown a high potential of di-rhamnolipid in mobilization and decontamination of contaminated soil. Within 36 h of the leaching study, di-rhamnolipid facilitated the removal of chromium 10-13-fold compared to tap water. These results indicated that the specificity of this biosurfactant towards chromium was very high and 92% removal of chromium was observed. Hence, di-rhamnolipid selectively favours mobilization of chromium from contaminated soil. Biosurfactant specificity observed towards a specific metal will help the preferential elution of a specific contaminant using di-rhamnolipid. Leachates collected from chromium-spiked soil column treated with di-rhamnolipid solution had a lower pH (6.60-6.78) than leachates from heavy metal-spiked soil column treated with tap water (pH 6.90-7.25), which showed high dissolution of metal species from the spiked soil, and effective leaching of metals.

Etchie Ayotunde Titilayo, Adewuyi Gregory Olufemi, Etchie Tunde Ogbemi (Nigeria) Chronic Exposure to Heavy Metals in Public Water Supply and Human Health Risk Assessment (pp 106-111)

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Original Research Paper: Historic disasters resulting from heavy metals contamination of drinking water emphasize the need to assess the quality of public water supplies. Currently, millions of people in and around Bangladesh are facing chronic health risk of arsenic poisoning via drinking water. Therefore, to prevent the re-occurrence of such tragic episodes, heavy metal levels in public water supplies at Agodi-residential area of Ibadan, Nigeria were determined and human health risk assessment was done for metals whose levels were higher than the US EPA maximum contaminants level for drinking purpose. Sampling was spread from January to July, 2010 to account for variations in rainy and dry seasons. 10 public taps were sampled at 5 different times, making a total of 50 water samples collected. Metals concentrations were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The mean concentrations (mg L^-1) of Cd, Co, Cr⁺⁶, Mn and Pb in the sampled water were 0.05 ± 0.02, 0.14 ± 0.02, 0.21 ± 0.07, 0.17 ± 0.02 and 0.05 ± 0.04, respectively. These values are significantly higher than the US EPA maximum contaminants level in drinking water. Health risk assessment conducted for adult and child residents, via oral and dermal routes of exposure, gave overall hazard index values of 19 and 45, respectively, while the estimated cancer risks values were 2E-03 and 9E-04, respectively. These values significantly exceed the target non-cancer hazard index of 1 and target cancer risk of 1E-06. Hence, the concentrations of the investigating metals in this public water supply are high enough to cause carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic systemic health effects to adults and children.

Ayotunde Titilayo Etchie, Gregory Olufemi Adewuyi, Tunde Ogbemi Etchie (Nigeria) Source Apportionment of Heavy Metals in Utility Water Sources (pp 112-115)

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Original Research Paper: Heavy metals cause cancer and non-cancer health effects in humans when consumed via drinking water. Therefore, the importance of assessing the levels and sources of heavy metals in utility water sources, with a view to proffering mitigation measures, cannot be overemphasized as not all toxic metals can be removed by conventional water treatment processes. A total of 40 composite water samples were randomly collected from utility dams and their feeding rivers from January, 2010 to December, 2011. The concentrations of metals were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry and were found to vary with season. The concentrations of Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn (mg L^-1) in the water sources ranged from 0.02 to 0.49, 0.01 to 0.17, 0.03 to 0.38, 0.09 to 0.48, 0.17 to 3.25, 0.05 to 0.34, 0.02 to 0.33, 0.13 to 0.61 and 0.09 to 1.07, respectively, in the dry season, and from 0.08 to 0.68, 0.02 to 0.58, 0.13 to 0.87, 0.02 to 0.69, 0.28 to 5.62, 0.31 to 1.28, 0.09 to 1.08, 0.23 to 1.98 and 0.26 to 1.59, respectively, in the wet season, indicating that the concentrations of Cd, Cr, Fe, Ni, and Pb exceed regulatory limits in both seasons. Furthermore, the result of principal component analysis on absolute principal component scores (PCA/APCS) used to apportion sources to the metals in the dams and rivers revealed two major anthropogenic sources accounting for over 90% of the metals. Source 1 represents anthropogenic release from small-scale entrepreneurial enterprises, such as automobile-mechanic, panel beaters, vehicle sprayers and battery recharger workshops generating and spilling wastes such as lubricating oil, grease, petrol, diesel, battery electrolytes, contributing 96.2, 99.2, 95.9, 100, 99.4, 99.9, 100 and 95.2%, of Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn, respectively, while source 2 represents the release from agricultural activities, such as from fertilizers and fungicides and contributes 63.2, 100 and 51.6% of Cd, Co and Cr, respectively.

Godwin Oladele Olutona, Olapeju Gifty Aribisala, Emmanuel Adewuni Akintunde, Samuel Oluwaseun Obimakinde (Nigeria) Chemical Speciation and Distribution of Trace Metals in Roadside Soil from Major Roads in Iwo, a Semi-Urban City, South Western Nigeria (pp 116-126)

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Original Research Paper: A chemical speciation study of five trace metals (Fe, Mn, Zn, Pb and Cd) in roadside topsoil along nine major roads in Iwo, a semi-urban city, South-Western Nigeria, was investigated using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry. The mean values (µg/g) obtained by total digestion were in the following order: Fe (173.00 ± 11.64) > Mn (104.52 ± 10.01) > Zn (51.64 ± 2.60) > Pb (0.89 ± 0.06) > Cd (0.41 ± 0.03). The result of the speciation analysis showed that most of the Mn and Fe were associated with Mn-oxide bound followed by organic matter; Zn was associated with organic matter (OM) followed by exchangeable fractions while Pb and Cd showed a similar pattern for all the fractions. The physicochemical parameters studied showed that the soil was alkaline in nature. Pearson’s correlation analysis showed that OM was positively correlated with CaCO₃ at P < 0.01; OM and CaCO₃ were negatively correlated with Mn at P < 0.05. A significant positive correlation was observed between the trace metals examined in this study. The mean values of the mobility factor (MF) for the five trace metals studied were Mn (41.70 ± 2.45), Pb (44.67 ± 1.57), Cd (43.88 ± 3.21), Fe (42.88 ± 1.54) and Zn (44.28 ± 1.54). The results of the calculated I-geo values for the street dusts of the study area showed that the roadside soil was practically unpolluted with Mn, Fe and Pb but moderately to heavily polluted with Cd. Even though the analytical results indicate that the levels of trace metals studied were below those indicated in the literature for typical soil, with the exception of Cd, future environmental monitoring is highly recommended.

Princewill C. Ogbonna, Timothy O. Anigor (Nigeria), Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva (Japan) Bioaccumulation of Nutrients and Heavy Metals in Plants at a Coal Mine (pp 127-131)

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Original Research Paper: This study assessed the bioaccumulation of nutrients (N, P, and Ca) and heavy metals (Ni, Pb and Cd) in plants in Onyeama coal mine, Nigeria. The highest concentrations of Ni (9.30 mg/kg) and Pb (7.90 mg/kg) in soil were observed 1 m from the coal mine site while Cd (0.08 mg/kg) was highest 100 m from the site. Ni in soil ranged from 2.16 to 9.30 mg/kg, Pb from 4.01 to 7.90 mg/kg, and Cd from 0.01 to 0.08 mg/kg. The highest concentrations of Ni (0.001-2.01 mg/kg) and Cd (0.001-2.41 mg/kg) were detected in Landolphia owariensis and Canarium schweinfurthii, respectively. Similarly, the highest concentrations of N (0.14-1.38 cmol/kg) and P (0.11-0.40 cmol/kg) were detected in L. owariensis. The level of Cd in soil reflected significant pollution compared to average global concentrations in soils.

Luke N. Ukiwe, Jude I. Alinnor (Nigeria) Assessment of Polyacrylamide and Aluminum Sulphate Coagulants in Turbidity Removal in Wastewater (pp 132-135)

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Original Research Paper: Turbidity adds an objectionable appearance to wastewaters. The present research investigates the application of a polymer (non-ionic polyacrylamide) and aluminum sulphate (AI₂(SO₄)₃) in coagulation-flocculation to improve the quality of domestic wastewater. Results of the “jar test” conducted indicated that by adding 150 mg L^-1 of AI₂(SO₄)₃ at a contact time of 20 min, turbidity of the solution was reduced to about 90%. However, applying 200 mg L^-1 of the polyacrylamide at a contact time of 35 min resulted in 89% turbidity removal. Evaluating the efficiency of turbidity removal of both coagulants, no significant differences were noted in the ability of both coagulants to clarify wastewater.

Ayodhya D. Kshirsagar, Mahendra L. Ahire, Venkat R. Gunale (India) Phytoplankton Diversity Related to Pollution from Mula River at Pune City (pp 136-142)

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Research Note: Water samples were collected monthly (during October 2007 to September 2008) at three selected sampling stations (station I: Wakad; station II: Aundh; station III: Dapodi) from Mula River, Pune City. Collected water samples were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively for their algal population. A total of 162 algal species belonging to 75 genera were recorded at selected sampling stations at Mula River throughout the study period. Among the different groups, Chlorophyceae was the most abundant followed by Bacillariophyceae, Cyanophyceae and Euglenophyceae. The greatest algal population was recorded at station III followed by stations II and I. Maximum abundance of Scenedesmus quadricauda, Chlorella vulgaris, Oscillatoria limosa and Melosira granulata at stations II and III throughout the year showed that these algal species could be considered as bioindicators of organic pollution. Algal monitors showed that water at stations II and III are highly polluted with organic pollutants in the Mula River. Highest algal populations were observed in April, May and June, i.e., summer, and fewest in winter and the monsoon season.