Biological Analysis of Small Reservoir Budha Talab in Raipur

Raghav M. and Biswas P.

Department of Fisheries, I.G.K.V, Raipur, India

ABSTRACT

Budha Talab is the largest pond (30.25 ha.) among total 22 ponds present in the Raipur city. It receives domestic waste and sewage and also used for cloth washing, animal bathing and therefore water quality is fast deteriorating. Total 24 phytoplankton and 10 zooplankton species were identified. Among phytoplankton Scenedesmus sp., Microcystis sp., Oscillatoria sp., Anabaena sp., Melosira sp., Nitzchia sp., Chlorella sp. and among zooplankton Daphnia sp., Moina sp., Diaphanosoma sp. were found throughout the year. Microcystis sp., Oscillatoria sp., Melosira sp., Anabaena sp. (phytoplankton) and Brachionus sp. and Keratella sp. (zooplankton) indicate organic pollution and eutrophic nature of Budha Talab.

INTRODUCTION:

Reservoirs which are situated near human settlements are greatly influenced with the habitation viz. with disposal of sewage, soap and detergents and industrial wastes. In developing countries like India where only few of the big cities posses sewage treatment plants, the proper disposal of sewage is an acute problem. Most of the city sewage and domestic water is disposed into rivers, reservoirs and ponds without any treatment.The sewage water is rich in phosphate due to extensive use of hard and /or soft detergents. It is estimated that about 800 x 10⁶ gallons/day of sewage and sullage can yield an annual out turn of 60,000 t N P K. Domestic sewage contains 250-400 ppm Organic Carbon and 80-120 ppm total nitrogen with a C: N ratio of 3:1 (Mukhophodhyay and Sarangi, 2006). Even small addition of organic matter eutrophicates reservoirs and stimulates bloom in the chain of waters connected to them (Sreenivasan, 1969). Raipur is known as city of ponds. Once upon a time there were 70 ponds (1977) in Raipur city (Marothia, 1997) while reduced to 40 in 1997, but as of today there exists only 22 ponds. Vivekanada sarovar (popularly known as Budha Talab) is the largest tank in the city of Raipur (21⁰14’N, 81⁰38’E). It is surrounded by thick dense habitation. Therefore, Physico-chemical and biological conditions of water get affected due to human interference.

Materials and Methods;

Surface water samples were collected at monthly intervals for twelve months (July 2005-June 2006) from three sampling sites between 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. from Budha Talab. There were three sampling sites-

Site-1 Near outlet (Southern side).

Site-2 Near Vivekananda statue

Site-3 Near Shyam takies (Northern side)

Plankton was collected from surface water by plankton net and sample was fixed in 5% formaldehyde and Lugol’s solution for zooplankton and phytoplankton respectively.

The plankton samples were stored in plastic bottles and observed under compound microscope for identification. The plankton and algae were identified with the help of various keys e.g. Needham (1962), Cramar (1984), Plaskitt (1997), Sinha and Naik (1997) and APHA (1998). Quantitative analysis of plankton was done by Sedgwick Rafter cell. Primary productivity was measured by light and dark bottle method (APHA, 1998). Light and dark DO bottles (300ml) were placed at one-foot depth and kept incubated for 3 hours. After 3 hours bottles were taken up and oxygen was fixed with Winkler’s A and Winkler’s B solution. The result is expressed in mg C/cm ³/h.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION:

The monthly distributions of phytoplankton are given in Table-4.2. Twenty four phytoplankton species were identified and among them 13 were represented by Chlorophyceae, 5 species of Cyanophyceae, 4 of Bacillariophyceae and 2 species of Euglenophyceae. Among phytoplankton Chlorophyceae was also found to be a dominant group (Selot, 1977). Six genera observed by Palmer (1969) are common with present study (Euglena sp., Oscillatoria sp., Scenedesmus sp., Chlorella sp., Nitzchia sp. and Navicula sp.). Among Chlorophyceae Actinastrum sp., chlorella sp., Scenedesmus sp., Richtirella sp.; among Cyanophyceae, Microcystis sp., Anabaena sp., Oscillatoria sp. were found throughout the year in all months. Among Bacillariophyceae Melosira sp. and Nitzchia sp. and among Euglenophyceae Euglena sp. was found in all months over the year. The presence of Microcystis sp. indicates the eutrophic nature and the organic pollution in the pond as indicated by Ganapati (1940) and Singh (1955). The presence of other species like Oscillatoria, Scenedesmus, Chlorella and Nitzchia indicate organic pollution as also reported by Rao et al. 1978) and Mukhopadhaya and Sarangi (2006). Kanungo, 1987) identified Melosia sp as bioindicator of pollution and this species was found almost throughout the year. Most of these phytoplankton found in our study indicated that, the pond is organically polluted with eutrophic condition. It is also proved by palmer Index (1969) that six phytoplankton genera found in Budha Talab stand in first seven genera listed given by Palmer.

Zooplankton

Monthly variation in zooplankton population is given in Table- 4.1. Quantitative values of zooplankton show significant variation over the months. The highest number was recorded in the month of July (252 no./l) and the lowest was in the month of March (93 no./l). In this study it was seen that, phytoplankton were predominant over zooplankton. Sarwar and Parveen (1996) opined that, higher zooplankton was recorded in summer but in present study higher zooplankton were observed in late summer or monsoon. Sukumaran and Das (2002) also found higher zooplankton in monsoon (July).

Zooplankton population in the water of the Budha Talab mainly consisted of four major groups: Protozoa, Rotifera, Cladocera and Copepoda. Total 10 species of zooplankton were identified, among which 1 was represented by Protozoa, 2 by Rotifera, 4 by Cladocera and 3 by Copepoda. Protozoans were represented by Zoothamnium sp., Rotifera by Brachionus sp. and Keratella sp., Cladocera by Daphnia sp., Moina sp., Bosmina sp. and Diaphanosmona sp.. Among Copepod, Diaptomus sp. and Cyclops sp. were found in all most all the months. Vasisht and Sra (1979) while studying the Chandigarh wastewaters recorded, characteristics of many species of Zooplankton as bio indicator of population. Keratella sp. was observed to be present in both the studies. Sampath et al. (1979) in their studies on water quality of river Cauvery concluded that, Brachionus sp. might be used as bio indicator of pollution. Arora (1963) and Khan (1967) have also observed that Brachionus sp. was abundant in moderately polluted water. This could mean that the presence of Brachionus sp. and Keratella sp. indicate polluted state with eutrophic nature of Budha Talab.

Productivity studies
Gross primary productivity (GPP)

In this study the highest GPP recorded was 850 (mgC/m³/h) in the September and the lowest was 375 (mgC/m³/h) in the June (Tab 4.1). Seasonal mean GPP were respectively 729.3 (mgC/m³/h) in monsoon and 475 (mgC/m³/h) in spring. GPP varied significantly over the months and seasons. A significant relationship between GPP and phytoplankton is relatively a good index of productivity. Similar results were also obtained by Basheer (1996.).

Net primary productivity (NPP)

The highest net primary productivity recorded in September was 197 (mgC/m³/h) and the lowest in February was 114(mgC/m³/h).The NPP varied significantly over the months. The water temperature and transparency played an important role in determining pond productivity (Ali and Khan, 1978 and Ayyappan and Gupta, 1985). however, no such relationship was found in this study.

Fig. A

Fig. B

Fig. C

Fig-1: Monthly variation in phytoplankton (Fig. A), zooplankton (Fig. B) and GPP and NPP (Fig. C)

Table - 1 : Qualitative and quantitative analysis of zooplankton in Budha Talab, Raipur (2005-06)

Zooplankton

July

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

March

April

May

June

Protozoa

Zoothanium sp

Rotifera

Brachionus sp

Keratella sp

Cladoceara

Moina sp

Daphnia sp

Bosmina sp

Diaphanosmona sp

Copepoda

Diaptomus sp

Cyclops sp

Rhinediaptomus sp

Total zooplankton (no./L)

252

216

155

125

122

134

107

123

116

144

174

SEm

±9.54

CV (%)

11.26

Table 2 : Qualitative and quantitative analysis of phytoplankton in Budha Talab, Raipur (2005-06)

Family/Genera

July

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

March

April

May

June

Chlorophyceae

Actinastrum sp

Ankistrodesmus sp

Botryococcus sp

Crucigenia sp

Chlorella sp

Clostrum sp

Scenedesmus sp

Cladophora sp

Anacystis sp

Volvox sp

Tetraspora sp

Selenostrum sp

Richtrella sp

Cyanophyceae

Mycrocystis sp

Oscillatoria sp

Spirulena sp

Anabaena sp

Synechocystis sp

Bacillariophycae

Melosira sp

Navicula sp

Nitzchia sp

Stephnodiscus sp

Euglenophyceae

Phacus sp

Euglina sp

Total phytoplankton (no./L)

905

1167

1606

1496

1343

819

720

542

777

842

894

914

SEm

±36.10

CV (%)

6.24

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Received on 20.11.2009

Accepted on 27.12.2009

Research J. Science and Tech. 1(3): Nov. Dec. 2009: 93-96