Duckweed as a Test Organism for Eco toxicological Assessment of Wastewater

Ekta Chaudhary, Praveen Sharma

Abstract: A chemical-specific approach is not sufficient to characterize the wastewater quality. Therefore; it is essential to use biological test systems with living cells or organisms that give a global response to the quantity of micropollutants present in the wastewater sample. Duckweed can be used in eco toxicological assessment of wastewater to monitor heavy metals and other aquatic pollutants; because duckweed may selectively accumulate certain chemicals. The plants possess certain physiological properties like small size; rapid growth (almost double in two days) between pH 5 and 9; and vegetative propagation; which make them an ideal test system. The objective of the present study is to evaluate the sensitivity of duckweed plant towards selected parameters for screening and biomonitoring complex effluent samples. In the various studies the possible phyto- and genotoxic effects of partially treated industrial effluent waters were investigated. Obtained data from various studies demonstrate the relevance of duckweed as sensitive indicators of water quality.

Keywords: Wastewater, Micro pollutant, Duckweed, Eco toxicological assessment, Genotoxic effects

How to Cite?: Ekta Chaudhary, Praveen Sharma, "Duckweed as a Test Organism for Eco toxicological Assessment of Wastewater", Volume 3 Issue 6, June 2014, International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), Pages: 2073-2075, https://www.ijsr.net/getabstract.php?paperid=2014651, DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.21275/2014651