Amongst the industrial wastes, tannery effluents are ranked among the top pollutants as they contain a complex of metals and their derivatives. The soil, water and air have been traditionally used as sites for the disposal of not only tannery but also other industrial wastes. Further due to non treatment uncontrolled and improper disposal of these wastes and pollutants, our environment is increasingly threatened by input of hazardous liquid, solid and gases emanating from these industries. The tannery industries are a major contributor of chromium pollution in India. The element and compounds of chromium are toxic even at low concentrations and mutagenic, carcinogenic and teratogenic in nature. The trivalent state is more stable form of chromium is comparatively less toxic than the hexavalent state. Thus study on the effect of such toxic element on our environment, human, animal and to the plant life is an important and can help us find remedies.
The crop plant selected for study is common pea which is important agricultural plant especially its seeds are consumed over a wider population. Interestingly via food chain most of the environmental pollutants are reaching to human food through environmental pathways and this research brings in the area of human health safety along with environmental safety.
The present study therefore focuses on the impact of tannery effluent on the crop plant and determination of trace metals in aqueous elutriates and their gross toxic effects on the pea plant on one hand and Mass Spectrometric (MS) analysis of various species of metals that are present in it on the other. Our results indicate that the metals analyzed in treated tannery effluent have differential toxicity on the pea plant and its parts, depending upon the rate of accumulation and tolerance of cellular structures. MS analysis have revealed that the compounds of chromium (1-6 chromium tricarbonyl, chromium 1-3 nitrodimethylchloride and chromium hexamethylbenzene) are found in almost all parts of the plant. Consequently Zinc (II) bis-N dipropyldithiocarbamate and alumina aquaethylates are moderately distributed. The relative abundance of compounds of Lead (Pb) 1,3,4,5 pentaethyl, 4-trimethylplumbyl and of Phosphorous (P) Octamethyl-phosphoramide and Chloromethyl phosphate followed their accumulation in the plant after the compounds of Chromium, Zinc and Lead.