Effect of chlorpyrifos on the reproductive system of Metaphire posthuma (Vaillant, 1868) and Eisenia fetida (Savigny, 1826)

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
2018
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Abstract
The present study was field-laboratory integrated approach to evaluate effects of pesticide on earthworms. The agricultural fields of South West (S-W) Punjab (Malout, Bathinda and Muktsar regions) and Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana were surveyed to monitor chlorpyrifos residues and check species and population density of earthworms. The residue level ranged from 0.014-0.044 mg/kg in Malout region, 0.018-0.116 mg/kg in Bathinda region and 0.010-0.056 mg/kg in Muktsar region of Punjab. The Metaphire posthuma was the predominant species found in S-W Punjab and PAU, Ludhiana and Lampito mauritii was also inhabiting these regions. The biochemical, histological, cytological and genotoxicity studies were also performed on former abundant species. The investigation revealed that the biological alterations were more pronounced in Kharif season than Rabi. Higher AchE activity during Rabi season and elevated GST activity during Kharif season was recorded in earthworms .The histological alterations were only observed in earthworms of S-W Punjab. Low differential, total coelomocyte count and higher DNA damage was reported in Kharif. The comparative study showed that PAU, Ludhiana is a zone with good agricultural practices. In laboratory two ecologically different earthworms i.e Metaphire Posthuma (endogeic) and Eisenia fetida (epigeic) were exposed to different doses of chlorpyrifos (2.5, 5.0, 7.5, 10.0 ml/l) in an artificial soil test following OECD guidelines. The significant decrease was observed in body weight, cocoon and hatchling number of both earthworms, at higher doses of chlorpyrifos (7.5 and 10.0 ml/l). The mortality as a result of morphological alterations was observed at higher doses of chlorpyrifos in earthworms. Further, these higher doses led to inhibition of activity of AchE and GST, decrease in total, differential count of coelomocytes and high DNA damage. Histological alterations were also observed in gonads of M. posthuma and E. fetida on exposure to higher doses. The field and laboratory studies revealed that earthworms are excellent bioindicators for assessing soil contamination caused by pesticides. The species specific response was observed, M. posthuma was found to be more sensitive as compared to E. fetida so, can used as standard test species to evaluate pesticidal toxicity.
Description
Keywords
null
Citation
Collections