Bioremediation strategies for the tannery effluent pollution

Abstract

Heavy metal pollution of soil and water is a significant environmental problem and has a newlinenegative impact on human health and agriculture Among the heavy metals chromium plays a major newlinerole in polluting water and soil Hence it is necessary to eliminate it In the present study tannery newlineeffluent taken in different concentrations was used to assess the plant growth and microbial means of newlinedetoxifying Chromium VI was analyzed In phase I the tannery industry effluent and soil were newlinecollected and characterized for their physico chemical characteristics and biochemical profile All the newlineparameters analyzed were found to be much above the permissible limits prescribed by BIS 2009 newlineFrom the result it was clear that the tannery effluent released from various stages of processing had an adverse impact on agricultural soil of the target area In phase II leaves of Brassica juncea grown with 10 20 and 30 percentage concentrations of tannery effluent were analyzed for selected biometric and biochemical parameters and metal constituents after 30 and 45 days of sowing There was a significant decrease in biometric and biochemical parameters with respect to the control plants The seed and leaf protein profile was carried out and was observed for the change in banding pattern on SDS PAGE It showed no change in the protein content of the control and effluent treated plants From the results it could be ascertained that Brassica juncea could be used for the removal of heavy metals from the effluent as no detectable change in the protein content was observed in the edible portion of the plant In phase III bacteria isolated from the tannery effluent contaminated soil was plated on nutrient agar plates containing different concentrations of chromium The chromium resistant organism was isolated and various tests were performed to identify it and was found to be a Gram positive rod shaped bacterium giving positive results for catalase starch hydrolysis and gelatin liquefaction tests newline