Assessment of Toxic Heavy Metals in Agricultural Fields of Mysore District

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IJIRST –International Journal for Innovative Research in Science & Technology| Volume 3 | Issue 02 | July 2016 ISSN (online): 2349-6010

Assessment of Toxic Heavy Metals in Agricultural Fields of Mysore District Shiva Kumar D Department of Environmental Science University of Mysore, Manasagamgothri, Mysuru-570 006, Karnataka

Abhilash M R Department of Environmental Science University of Mysore, Manasagamgothri, Mysuru-570 006, Karnataka

Smitha N Department of Botany University of Mysore, Manasagamgothri, Mysuru-570 006, Karnataka

Shobha. M S Department of Microbiology Maharani’s Science College for Women, Mysuru-570 005, Karnataka

Nagaraju A Department of Botany Maharani’s Science College for Women, Mysuru-570 005, Karnataka

Abstract Heavy metals are natural constituents of the environment, but indiscriminate use for human purposes has altered their geochemical cycles and biochemical balance. These results in excess release of heavy metals such as cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, zinc etc. into natural resources like the soil and aquatic environments. Prolonged exposure and higher accumulation of such heavy metals can have deleterious health effects on human life and aquatic biota. The role of microorganisms and plants in biotransformation of heavy metals into nontoxic forms is well-documented, and understanding the molecular mechanism of metal accumulation has numerous biotechnological implications for bioremediation of metal-contaminated sites. In view of this, the present review investigates the abilities of microorganisms and plants in terms of tolerance and degradation of heavy metals. In this study vegetables were collected from different places of Mysore district and analysed for the accumulated metals through ICP-MS. Keywords: Vegetables, Heavy metals, Mysore, Bio accumulation, Toxicity _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ I.

INTRODUCTION

Most heavy metals (e.g. copper, nickel, zinc) exist naturally at low concentrations in soils, rocks, water, and biota, sufficient to provide living systems with essential nutrients but at levels too low to cause toxicity. Since the industrial revolution, heavy metals have become a seriously pervasive pollutant in environment, through industrial effluents and landfill leaching, mining activities, fertilizer and pesticide use in agriculture, the burning of waste and fossil fuels, and municipal waste treatment (Diels et al., 2006). Once these heavy metals have been released into the environment, they cannot be degraded and will accumulate in the environment persistently, including the food chain. Exposure to heavy metals through uptake of drinking water or foods can lead to their accumulation in plants, animals and humans (Mulligan et al., 2001). But now the conventional heavy metals contaminated wastewater or soil treatments, such as chemical precipitation or ion exchange and adsorption are not effective or uneconomical (Kapoor and Viraraghavan, 1995; Matheickal et al., 1997; Cheung and Gu, 2007). Microbial processes that bind metals and form minerals are widespread and represent a fundamental part of key biogeochemical cycles (Cheung et al., 2006; DeJong et al., 2006; Stanislav and Tomas, 2006; Cheung and Gu, 2007; Han and Gu, 2010; Veronica et al., 2012). Carbonate precipitation is an important aspect of bio mineralization, and has been investigated extensively due to its wide range of technological implications. In comparison with inorganically produced minerals, biominerals often have their own specific properties including unique size, crystallinity, isotopic and trace element compositions (Ivanov and Chu, 2008). Applications of carbonate mineralization by bacteria include the production of biomimetic materials and bioremediation through leaching, solid-phase capture of inorganic contaminants or plugging cementation in rock and other porous media fissures (Hoffman and Deccho, 1999). Microbial induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) has proven to be an effective means to capture radionuclide and trace element contaminants such as Strontium (Sr) and Barium (Ba) in the subsurface via groundwater movement (Fujita et al., 2000, 2004; Warren et al., 2001). There are many microbial processes which can lead to the precipitation of carbonate. Currently, many studies focus on hydrolysis of urea by the enzyme urease (Le Metayer-Levrel et al., 1999; Murphy and Ginn, 2000). Urease (urea amidohydrolase; EC3.5.1.5) is common in a wide variety of microorganisms. One mole of urea is hydrolyzed intracellularly to one mole of ammonia and one mole of carbonate, which spontaneously hydrolyzes to form an additional one mole of ammonia and carbonic acid each. These products subsequently equilibrate inwater to form bicarbonate and two moles of ammonium and

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