Journal of Environmental Biology

Evaluation of genotoxic potential of industrial waste

contaminated soil extracts of Amritsar, India

Author Details

Jatinder Kaur Katnoria

Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar ?

143005, India

Saroj Arora

Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar ?

143005, India

Renu Bhardwaj

Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar ?

143005, India

Avinash Nagpal

(Corresponding author)

Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar -?

143005, India

e-mail: avnagpal@rediffmail.com

Publication Data

Paper received:

01 February 2010

Revised received:

17 August 2010

Accepted:

24 September 2010

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.

Key words

Genotoxicity, Mutagenicity, Heavy metals, Allium root anaphase aberration assay, Soil pollution, Ames test

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