Management of Metal Contaminated Wastelands by Fern Species

The study site was thermal power station, Kanti and nearby locality (District Muzaffarpur, Bihar), having Gangetic plain topography with fertile soil. But fly ash deposition of thermal power has reduced the soil fertility of nearby area and consequently local farmers were vexed by adverse effect on crop yield. In similar condition ferns were found luxuriantly growing inside and outside the campus of thermal power without any visible phytotoxic symptoms. In context of the above, during present study metal content and physico-chemical properties of the fly ash site and soil samples of natural forest site of Balmikinagar (reference site) were studied. Community structure (frequency, density, abundance, and IVI) and several diversity indices including population density, concentration of dominance, heterogeneity, equitability, Shannon Wiener's diversity index of ferns of both fly ash site and reference site were studied. Effect of fly ash on photosynthetic pigments were studied and compared with reference site. Results showed that fern communities existing on fly ash site perform better than reference site even in presence of high metal content in fly ash. As ferns grown on fly ash site show slight reduction in chlorophyll content but no visible toxicity symptoms and have higher population distribution, it indicates the possibility of management of metal loaded wastelands with metal accumulator fern species.