Evaluation of genotoxic potential of industrial waste contaminated soil extracts of Amritsar, India.
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Date
2011-05
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Abstract
The rapid increase in population together with unplanned disposal of effluents from various industries has
resulted in accumulation of various heavy metals like As, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb and Zn in soil ecosystem which
ultimately causes DNA damage in living systems. Considering this, the present study was designed to
evaluate the content of various heavy metals (Cu, Cr, Co, Hg, Mn, Ni, Zn) and genotoxicity/mutagenicity of
soil samples collected from the outskirts of two industries viz. zinc coating industry (SI) and copper sulphate
manufacturing industry (SII) employing Allium root anaphase aberration assay (AlRAAA) and Ames assay.
The physicochemical parameters like bulk density, water holding capacity, moisture content, pH, nitrates,
phosphates and potassium were also estimated. It was observed that SI sample contained Ni (6.86 mg g-1),
Zn (6.53 mg g-1), Co (5.05 mg g-1) and Cr (4.49 mg g-1), while SII contained Cu (32.86 mg g-1), Ni (9.66
mg g-1), Co (6.85 mg g-1) and Zn (5.41 mg g-1). In AlRAA assay, the percentage of cells with anaphase
aberrations ranged from 3.63 to 10.67 and 0.38 to 4.83% for samples SI and SII, respectively. In Ames test,
sample SII was found to be lethal to Salmonella tester strains at all concentrations used, while sample SI was
found to be mutagenic in TA100 strains of Salmonella typhimurium. Sample SII was found to be strongly acidic
with pH 3.46. The present study focuses on the increasing heavy metal pollution in Amritsar city due to
industrial discharges over lands and also infers that both bioassays Ames and AlRAAA can serve as first alert
indication of pollution.
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Keywords
Genotoxicity, Mutagenicity, Heavy metals, Allium root anaphase aberration assay, Soil pollution, Ames test
Citation
Katnoria Jatinder Kaur, Arora Saroj, Bhardwaj Renu, Nagpal Avinash. Evaluation of genotoxic potential of industrial waste contaminated soil extracts of Amritsar, India. Journal of Environmental Biology. 2011 May; 32(3): 363-367.