Informatics Publishing Limited

Vinod Kumar ¹, Anket Sharma ¹, Ashwani Kumar Thukral ¹, Renu Bhardwaj ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar 143 005, IN

Abstract

This article is a review of the pollution status of River Beas, India as analysed by different workers over a period of time. River-water pollution is an important environmental problem because it is the main source of water for consumption by humans as well as aquatic species living in the river. Water quality index was determined using nine standard water quality parameters for River Beas and was found to be 60.93. The mean values of dissolved oxygen (DO) (8.82 mg/l), biological oxygen demand (BOD) (0.87 mg/l) and total coliform (1451.60 MPN/100 ml) were found for River Beas in Himachal Pradesh. The mean values of DO (7.29 mg/l), BOD (3.75 mg/l), chemical oxygen demand (COD) (48.89 mg/l) and total coliforms (562.88 MPN/100 ml) were also found for River Beas in Punjab. DO, COD, BOD and total coliforms ranges of the river were found above permissible limits of BIS for drinking water.

Keywords

Drinking Water Guidelines, Pollution, River Water, Water Quality Index.

Full Text

   

Neha Sharma , Gurjinder Singh Hundal , Indu Sharma , Renu Bhardwaj

Abstract

Objectives: The application of brassinosteroids (BRs), the plant steroidal hormones, results in an increased tolerance toward stress and thus helps improving the yield of crop plants. The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of 28‑homobrassinolide (28‑HBL) on the protein content as well as activities of antioxidant enzymes viz., glutathione‑s‑transferase (GST) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) in radish plants grown under Cadmium (Cd) and Mercury (Hg) metal stress. Materials and Methods: Shoots of 60 and 90 days old radish plants, grown under Cd and Hg metal stress (0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 mM) and given the presowing treatment of 28‑HBL (0, 10–7, 10–9, 10–11 M) to seeds for 8 h, were analyzed for protein content and GST and PPO enzyme activities. Results: Protein content showed decrease in plants given Cd and Hg metal treatment alone, while treatment with 28‑HBL enhanced the protein content, suggesting its stress protective role. An increase in the activity of antioxidative enzymes was also observed in plants stressed with heavy metals as well as in those supplemented with 28‑HBL. Conclusions: In the present investigation, the activity of antioxidative enzymes was found to increase due to metal stress and a further increase was noticed in plants given both metal and 28‑HBL treatment, suggesting the stress protective role of 28‑HBL via modulating the antioxidative enzymes.

Keywords

28‑HBL, glutathione‑s‑transferase, polyphenol oxidase, Raphanus sativus L.

Full Text