Toxicology International (Formerly Indian Journal of Toxicology)

M. Lousia ¹, Selvisabhanayakam . ¹, V. Mathivanan ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Zoology, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Cuddalore District, Tamil Nadu, IN

Abstract

Indiscriminate use of pesticides for the eradication of pests causes tremendous changes to the environment and also to other nontarget organisms. To prevent such contamination of the environment and save nontarget species, zoopesticides are increasingly used as they are cost effective, eco-friendly, safe, and sustainable in the field of agriculture. The present study was undertaken to find out the effect of pygidial secretion (zoopesticide) on Odontopus varicornis. The insects were exposed to pygidial secretion for 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours and its sublethal concentration was found to be about 2.8% for 48 hours. When the insects were injected with sublethal concentration 2.8% for 48 hours, the study revealed certain remarkable changes in the histopathology of the male accessory reproductive glands (MARGs) such as disintegration of epithelial cell wall, swollen nucleus, vacuolization of cytoplasm, highly pycnotic and necrotic epithelium, enlargement of epithelial cells, and disorganized tissues. It is suggested that zoopesticide causes several histopathological damages in the MARGs of O. varicornis and affects the reproductive potentiality of O. varicornis.

Keywords

Male accessory reproductive glands, Odontopus varicornis, pygidial secretion

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V. Mathivanan ¹, R. Prabavathi ¹, C. Prithabai ¹, Selvisabhanayakam . ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Zoology, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar - 608 002, Tamil Nadu, IN

Abstract

Phytoremediation is a promising area of new research, both for its low cost and great benefit to society in the clean retrieval of contaminated sites. Phytoremediation is the use of living green plants for in situ risk reduction and/ or removal of contaminants from contaminated soil, water, sediments, and air. Specially selected or engineered plants are used in the process. The soil samples were taken from Cuddalore Old Town (OT) and the samples from SIPCOT industrial complex, which was the study area and analyzed for various metals concentrations. Fifteen metals have been analyzed by adopting standard procedure. The detection limits of metal concentration are drawn as control. The various (15) metal concentrations in the soil samples were found higher in soil taken from SIPCOT industrial complex, compared with samples taken from Cuddalore OT. In all the observations, it was found that most of the metals like calcium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, nickel, and zinc showed maximum concentrations, whereas arsenic, antimony, lead, magnesium, sodium have shown minimum concentrations, both when compared with control. From the present study, it was found that the soil collected from SIPCOT complex area were more polluted due to the presence of various industrial effluents, municipal wastes, and sewages when compared with the soil collected from Cuddalore OT.

Keywords

Metal concentration, SIPCOT, soil, Tamil Nadu

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