Plastic pollution is not at all a novel matter to the scientific as well as the public community. However, the knowledge of the general public when it comes to microplastic pollution is still in its infancy. The major sources of these tiny plastic particles in the aquatic environment are laundry, abrasion of household plastics, cosmetics, personal care products, tyre wear, food wrappings, and so on. However, the public is not much aware that they are part of these major emission sources and how much they are contributing to it. Also, the vast majority of research conducted to date on plastic pollution in all size fractions has focused more on marine ecosystems than freshwater ecosystems. Hence, people are more associated with freshwater ecosystems than marine ecosystems; it should be given additional importance.Rather than the effect on aquatic organisms through ingestion and other ways, the ecological risks posed by micro and nanoplastics as vectors for chemical contaminants and their accumulation through trophic transfer are more serious and of utmost importance. Aquatic life or aquatic ecosystem is already affected by a multitude of environmental stressors, and now microplastics and nanoplastics may represent a significant additional risk to food security. Micro and nanoplastics have already invaded our diet in various ways. Even if it does not show any immediate effect on human health, long-term exposure may pose a serious threat to the human population. Hence, identifying the possible sources and reducing exposure to these sources is of utmost importance.
Water deficiency is one of the main factors for limiting sustainable agricultural development in most arid and semi-arid regions. There is a gradual decline in the availability of fresh water to be used for irrigation in developing countries like India. Sewage farming is quite common in all urban areas in India. The effect of its direct and long-term use for irrigation needs a thorough study. However, there is increasing concern about food safety and health risks, hence, a case study was undertaken to understand the long-term effect of domestic sewage wastewater irrigation on heavy metal concentrations in soil and plants. The study reveals the mineral and heavy metal composition of irrigated domestic sewage wastewater and it has been compared with the well water irrigated in the rural area, soil parameters and also the mineral and heavy metal composition of a cultivated plant, Amaranthus tricolor L. Transfer factor (TF) was calculated to understand the extent of risk and associated hazard due to wastewater irrigation and the consequence of heavy metals accumulation in the edible portion of experimented vegetables. The present study was carried out to assess the potential toxicity of acetone extract of A. tricolor with some essential parameters such as haematological and biochemical parameters, liver and kidney weight and their histopathological study. After conducting in vivo acute and subchronic toxicity experiments using the rat model, there was no toxicity or mortality observed between domestic sewage water and well water irrigated to red amaranth, A. tricolor.
The investigation was aimed to study the physio-chemical characteristics and evaluation of the quality of three different organic composts (Plant compost, Coir pith compost and Vermi compost) made by local and standard preparations. All the organic composts were prepared from different feedstocks/raw materials. All the physiochemical parameters and mineral analysis of the compost samples were done using standard methodologies. An early seedling growth performance study was also carried out using Vigna radiata seeds in respective compost samples to find out the maturity and quality of the composts as a growth substrate and for wider application in agriculture. All the organic composts had variations in their physiochemical characters and growth performance of seedlings in the treatments. Except for standard plant compost, where no germination was seen, all the other composts exhibited germination. No higher levels of heavy metals were identified in any of the samples. The outputs of the present study could be due to elevated pH and electrical conductivity of the compost, and also maybe of the allelopathic potential of the compost since it is plant-based compost. Therefore, before advocating any organic compost into fields, physiochemical characteristics and quality of the composts should be ensured so that it won’t affect the soil quality undesirably and also the plant nutrition.
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