INTRODUCTION:

Textiles industry waste water is characterized primarily by measurements of BOD, COD, colour, heavy metals; total dissolved and suspended solids (Demmin 1988).Dyeing and printing of textile has been developed with human civilization. Today, these industries are the backbone of economy in many developed and developing countries. In India, it contributes to about 25% of total export earning and provides employment to almost one fourth of the total labour force (Gopal 1994 and Juwarkar et. al 1997).

A considerable amount of waste water generated by dyeing and printing industries have a strong color, a large amount of suspended solids, a highly fluctuating pH, salts, heavy metals, sulphides, chlorine, temperature and COD concentration (Gurnham 1965). Due to inefficiency of the dyeing processes, poor handling of spent effluent and insufficient treatment of wastes of the dyestuff industries, that lead to dye contamination of various components of environment viz. soil and natural water bodies (Nigam et al. 1996). Release of colored compounds into water bodies is undesirable not only because of their impact on photosynthesis of aquatic plants but also due to the carcinogenic nature of many of these dyes and their breakdown products (Weisburger 2002), moreover their presence in an environment like a water body lead to reduced dissolved oxygen content in water bodies (Gurav et al. 2011).Unfortunately most of these dyes escape conventional waste water treatment processes and persist in the environment as a result of their high stability against light, temperature, water, detergents, chemicals and microbial attack (Couto 2009), so waste water from such industries pose serious environmental problems because of their color, high COD and BOD (Kumar et al. 2007). Release of colored compounds into water bodies is undesirable not only because of their impact on photosynthesis of aquatic plants but also due to the carcinogenic nature of many of these dyes and their breakdown products (Weisburger 2002), These dyes may also be toxic to some of the aquatic organisms, due to their breakdown products (Hao et al. 2000). Increase in color fastness, stability and resistance of dyes to degradation have made color removal from textile waste waters even more difficult (Easton 1995 Waters 1995 and Robinson et al. 2001). moreover their presence in an environment like a water body lead to reduced dissolved oxygen content in water bodies (Gurav et al. 2011), so waste water from such industries pose serious environmental problems because of their color, high COD and BOD (Kumar et al. 2007). Nowadays, dyed wastewaters are mainly treated by physical and chemical procedures which have several shortcomings (Banat et al. 1996). Biological treatments are more cost-effective, environment friendly and do not produce large quantities of sludge (Asad et al. 2007 and Kariminiaae-Hamedaani et al. 2007).Improving biological treatment efficiency is the key solution to this problem due to their possibly complete mineralization of dyes at low cost (Cetin and Donmez 2006 and Yang et al. 2009).

In recent years, water shortage and environmental hazards of waste water have promoted the waste water reuse in irrigation in many arid and semi arid regions.

The effluents constitute a major part of the total industrial effluents in India. A huge amount of effluent from textile mills is being discharged on land or into water courses. This effluent is characterized by its high BOD and COD, dissolved solids, micro nutrients and heavy metals. The industrial effluents possess various organic and inorganic chemical compounds. The presence of these chemicals will show detrimental effects on the development of plant, germination process and growth of seedling (Kathirvel 2012). Although benefits of wastewater use in irrigation are numerous but precautions should be taken to avoid short and long-term environmental risk. Earlier studies have shown that the effect of an industrial effluent vary from crop to crop (Kaushik et al. 2005). Hence, it is essential to study the effect of industrial effluents on the individual crops before their use in agricultural fields (Garg and Kaushik 2008).

The present study covers the Namda or felted woollen carpet manufacturing processing in Tonk, during and after which, the carpet dyeing is applied. A lot of effluent is generated in the process, which is then allowed to drain towards the sinks of the local area, and affects the fauna and flora of Tonk.

Study area

The Effect of various concentrations of carpet effluent on relative seed germination and seedling growth of Hordeum vulgare var. RD 2508 was conducted at Tonk district, which is located in north-eastern part of the Rajasthan state between 75°07' to 76°19' east longitude and 25°41' to 26°34' north latitude.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

The carpet effluent was brought from Patni namada manufacturers, RIICO Industrial Area, Tonk (Raj.), and various concentrations of this carpet effluent were used for irrigating purpose.

Hordeum vulgare was used as a biological test material for seed germination and seedling growth bioassay. The carpet effluent was diluted in such a way, so that the response of plant/seedlings towards the effluent dilutions would be observed.

The experiment was conducted in petri plates. The effluent was diluted by distilled water to make 5%, 10%, 25%, 50% and 75%, 100% and a control concentration treatment for proper comparisons on seedling growth and development. Total 7 concentration variants were prepared in triplicate. Seeds of Hordeum vulgare were surface sterilized with 0.1% HgCl₂ solution for one minute, washed with double distilled water for 5-7 times, and then dried properly using blotting paper. Pre-sterilized petri plates were lined with filter paper over pre-sterilized cotton pads. 20 healthy seeds were kept equidistantly on top of filter paper. Three replicates were taken for each respective concentration of effluent. As pretreatment 5 ml of the respective concentration was added in the related petri plate on the first day, and 3 ml on 2^nd, 4^th and 6^th day after sowing, These petri plates were then kept in BOD incubator at 20⁰C, under proper humid conditions.

Seedling emergence was studied after 48 hours and the overall growth was also studied after 7 days. Root and shoot length of seedlings were then recorded. These seedlings were then wrapped up in labeled blotting papers and then oven dried at 85⁰C for 24 hours, and then their dry weights were also recorded.

OBSERVATION AND RESULTS:

After 48 hours of sowing, percent germination of seedling showed a decreasing trend with increasing concentration of the effluent (from 5% - 100%).At the 100% concentration, germination was only 11.66 % while it was 55.0 % and 31.66% respectively on 50% and 75% concentrations.

Table 1:Effect of various concentrations of carpet effluent on relative seed germination potential (after 48 h) and seedling growth (after 7 days) of Hordeum vulgare var.RD 2508

Growth parameter	Effluent concentrations (%)
Growth parameter	Control	5%	10%	25%	50%	75%	100%
Germination % (after 48 h)	95.00 (57/60)	93.33 (56/60)	88.33 (53/60)	76.66 (46/60)	55 (33/60)	31.66 (19/60)	11.66 (7/60)
%Decrease in seed Germination	-	1.75	6.67	19.3	42.1	66.67	87.72
Root length (cm)	6.1	5.8	5.5	4.6	4.02	2.76	1.04
Decrease in Root length (%)	-	4.91	9.83	24.59	34.09	54.75	82.95
Shoot length (cm)	12.3	11.6	10.9	9.02	7.54	4.06	2.04
Decrease in shoot length (%)	-	5.83	11.38	26.66	38.69	63.25	83.41
Total dry weight (g)	0.122	.109	.101	.09	.074	.051	.019
Decrease in total dry weight (%)	-	10.65	17.21	26.22	39.34	58.19	84.42

Growth parameters for seedling were also recorded after 7 days. Effect of the effluent content was more on shoot growth as compared to root, at all the concentrations.

Reduction in shoot and root length were recorded up to 26.66% and 24.59% respectively at 25% effluent concentration in comparison to control. At higher effluent concentration (75%), the reduction in shoot length and root length was 63.25% and 54.75% respectively. At the original concentration of effluent (i.e. 100%) the root length and shoot length were 2.04 cm. and 1.04 cm. and the reduction percentage of 83.41% and 82.95% respectively.

Plant dry weight also declined along with the increasing concentration of effluent. It was reduced to 10.65% at 5% concentration, 17.21% at 10%, 26.22% at 25%, 39.34% at 50%, 58.19% at 75% and 84.42% at 100% effluent concentrations.

DISCUSSION:

In the present study, the delirious effect of various concentrations of carpet effluent were assessed on the seed germination potential, and overall growth pattern of a crop Hordeum vulgare var.RD 2508.The results indicated that after 48 hours of sowing, percent germination of seedling showed a decreased trend with increased concentration of the effluent (from 5% - 100%).At the 100% concentration, germination was recorded only 11.66 % while it was 55.0 % and 31.66% respectively on 50% and 75% concentrations.

The inhibition of seed germination occurs at higher levels of total solids, due to the presence of excess amount of salts and conductivity of the effluent and it causes depletion of acids from the TCA cycle, which reduces the respiration rate cumulating in reduction in germination (Kirkby 1968).Rice seeds were treated with different concentrations of spent wash (0% 5%, 10%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%), and it was observed that at higher concentrations (25% and above) speed of germination and seedling growth were retarded (Sahai et al. 1983).

A trend of inhibition in germination, with increasing the concentrations of effluent was noted when the rice seeds (Oryza sativa) were treated in varying concentrations of cardboard factory effluent, as the maximum of 62% germination was noted down in 25% concentration and a minimum of 8% germination in pure effluent (100% concentration) (Dixit et al. 1986). Similar results were observed in a study in which the effect of textile effluent was studied with respect to germination and growth of black gram Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper. At lower concentration the germination ratio and growth were relatively higher than the control, but gradual decrease in the germination of seeds, seedling growth with increase in effluent concentration was observed. The best germination and seedling growth was observed in 25% concentration with growth promoting effect, and significantly better than control. Beyond 25% effluent, root and shoot length decreased. Thus the textile mill effluent can be safely used for irrigation purposes with proper treatment and dilution at 25% (Wins and Murugan 2010).

Impact of different industrial effluents was recorded on germination and seedling growth of Lens esculentum varieties. Different dilutions (0%, 10%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100%) of textile, refinery and marble factory effluents were used to irrigate two varieties of lentil (M-93 and NARC-02-4) and it was found that the textile effluent was most injurious as it’s all concentrations caused a reduction in the length parameters of the two varieties. Roots were more affected than shoots. Whereas various concentrations of effluents from marble industry and refinery were stimulatory for the growth of both the varieties (Yasmin et al. 2011).

In the present study also, a sharp decrease in germination potential of seeds of Hordeum vulgare at 75% and 100% carpet effluent concentrations i.e. 31.66% and 11.66%, along with a decrease of 58.19% and 84.42% in the total dry weight content of the seeds of Hordeum vulgare on 75% and 100% effluent concentrations respectively.

Kaushik et al. (2005) conducted experiments to study the effect of textile effluents in varying concentrations, (0-100%) (untreated and treated) on seed germination percentage, delay Index (DI), plant shoot and root length, plant biomass, chlorophyll content and carotenoid content on three different cultivars of wheat (Triticum aestivum).As the textile effluent does not show any inhibitory effect on seed germination and other plant characters at low concentration, (6-25%) but seed germinated in undiluted effluents did not survive for a longer period.

Rehman et al. (2009) used varying levels of treated and untreated textile effluents and were applied to germinating seeds of some winter vegetables and their effect was evaluated on germination and early growth stage using seed germination, growth, and biochemical attributes. From the results, it was found that textile effluent reduced seed germination and early growth of all vegetables. However, this effect was more pronounced at the highest concentration of textile effluent.

Singh and Yadav (2012) conducted few laboratory experiments to study the effect of different concentrations of distillery effluent (0%, 6.25%, 12.5%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%) on seed germination (%), vigor index (VI), plant shoot length and root length of three different cultivars of wheat. The distillery effluent has less inhibitory effect on seed germination at low concentration (25%). The other reported plant parameters also followed the similar trend. At higher concentration effluent has a detrimental effect on all the studied cultivars of wheat WH-147, PBW-343 and PBW-373.

Khan et al. (2011) carried out experiments to evaluate the effect of textile factory effluents (0%, 10%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%) on germination and physiological parameters like, biomass production, chlorophyll content in leaves, root development in three leguminous crops viz. pea (Pisum sativum L.), lentil (Lens esculentum L.) and Gram (Cicer arietinum L.). Plants exhibited a substantial reduction in total germination %, root and shoot dry weight, number of root branches per plant, mean extension rate (MER),relative multiplication rate (RMR),relative growth rate (RGR) and chlorophyll contents when grown with higher concentrations (50% and 100% ) of textile effluents.

In the present study also, at low concentrations of carpet effluent (up to 5%), there was very less or negligible effect on the root length, shoot length, number of tillers, number of leaves, root weight, shoot weight and leaf weight, leaf area (cm²), but at higher concentrations of carpet effluents, a significant reduction in the above mentioned vegetative parameters was observed.

Seed quality characters of Neem (Azadirachta indica) were evaluated with industrial effluents of various industries along with textile dyeing industry both as raw and in different dilutions (10-50%) and revealed that with raw material irrigation, the germination was inhibited completely in the case of dyeing and automobile effluents, and continuous irrigation with the raw elements was found to cause seedling damages as well, however with diluted effluent, the germination percentage increased along with the seedling vigor as compared to the raw effluent (Thiruvaruldevi et al. 2006).

The findings are similar to the present study, where the dyeing effluent has exhibited a trend of lowering the germination potential of seeds of Hordeum vulgare along with an increase in the dyeing effluent concentrations. The trend continues in the pot experiments, where the effects were getting more and more significant during the Ist, IInd and III harvesting respectively, according to the various vegetative parameters observed during the study, and the effect was more delirious at 75% and 100% effluent. The results correlates with the findings of Karunyal et al. (1994), where the chlorophyll and protein contents were decreased with 75% and 100% tannery effluent on the seed germination of Acacia holosericea and Leucaena leucocephala. Similiar results were observed on the seedling growth, seedling germination, biomass and crop yield of Raphanus sativus var. Pusa Chetki (Raddish) and Hibiscus esculentus versha uphar (Bhindi) as the trend of the decrease in germination percentage with increasing of the effluent concentration continued, as the study revealed the assessment of the toxicity of the surgical effluent (Yadav and Meenakshi 2007).

It is concluded that at higher concentrations of the discharged effluent, the plants did not tolerate the toxic effect and manifested in decline of the general health of plant and affected the yield of the crop, due to various harmful chemicals present in the effluent. It is therefore recommended strongly that for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem, Namda effluent should be treated properly or it should be diluted to the permissible limit, so that it may not affect the local fauna and flora along with the human population of the area.

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Received on 22.01.2013 Accepted on 25.07.2013

Research J. Science and Tech 5(4): Oct.- Dec.., 2013 page 449-453