title: Genotoxicity assessments of alluvial soil irrigated with wastewater from a pesticide manufacturing industry.
abstract: In this study, organochlorine pesticides (OCP) and heavy metals were analyzed from wastewater- and groundwater- irrigated soils (control samples) by gas chromatography (GC) and atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS), respectively. Gas chromatographic analysis revealed the presence of high concentration of pesticides in soil irrigated with wastewater (WWS). These concentrations were far above the maximum residue permissible limits indicating that alluvial soils have high binding capacity of OCP. AAS analyses revealed higher concentration of heavy metals in WWS as compared to groundwater (GWS). Also, the DNA repair (SOS)-defective Escherichia coli K-12 mutant assay and the bacteriophage lambda system were employed to estimate the genotoxicity of soils. Therefore, soil samples were extracted by hexane, acetonitrile, methanol, chloroform, and acetone. Both bioassays revealed that hexane-extracted soils from WWS were most genotoxic. A maximum survival of 15.2% and decline of colony-forming units (CFUs) was observed in polA mutants of DNA repair-defective E. coli K-12 strains when hexane was used as solvent. However, the damage of polA (-) mutants triggered by acetonitrile, methanol, chloroform, and acetone extracts was 80.0, 69.8, 65.0, and 60.7%, respectively. These results were also confirmed by the bacteriophage λ test system as hexane extracts of WWS exhibited a maximum decline of plaque-forming units for lexA mutants of E. coli K-12 pointing to an elevated genotoxic potential. The lowest survival was observed for lexA (12%) treated with hexane extracts while the percentage of survival was 25, 49.2, 55, and 78% with acetonitrile, methanol, chloroform, and acetone, respectively, after 6 h of treatment. Thus, our results suggest that agricultural soils irrigated with wastewater from pesticide industries have a notably high genotoxic potential.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, (UP), 202 002, India. reshmabiotec@gmail.com.|Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering Potsdam-Bornim e.V., Max-Eyth-Allee 100, 14469, Potsdam, Germany. reshmabiotec@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Reshma
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Anjum
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering Potsdam-Bornim e.V., Max-Eyth-Allee 100, 14469, Potsdam, Germany. nkrakat@atb-potsdam.de.
authors.forename: Niclas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Krakat
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D010582:Bacteriophage lambda / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D002617:Chemical Industry; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D004249:DNA Damage; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D048168:Escherichia coli K12 / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D060587:Groundwater / Q000032:analysis; D007220:Industrial Waste / Q000032:analysis; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests; D010575:Pesticides / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*; D013014:SOS Response, Genetics; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D062065:Wastewater / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D007220:Industrial Waste; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D010575:Pesticides; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: Alluvial soil; Bacteriophage λ; E. coli K-12; Genotoxicity; Organochlorine pesticides