Genotoxicity and tumor inducing potential of roadside soil samples exposed to heavy traffic emissions at Amritsar (Punjab), India

Abstract

Noxious gases released from vehicles adversely affect the microbial population of the roadside soil as well as exerts influence on plant growth and development. Considering the increasing vehicular pollution in Amritsar, a holy city of Punjab (India) and their serious consequences in terms of health problems, the present study was planned to estimate genotoxic and tumor inducing potentials of soil samples from Golden temple (GT) and Putlighar Chowk (PG) by employing Allium cepa root chromosomal aberration assay (AlRCAA) and Potato disc tumor assay (PDTA), respectively. The genotoxic potential in terms of percent aberrant cells in A. cepa was found to be 29.24 % (GT) and 29.24 % (PG) during in situ treatment and 39.00 % (GT) and 39.48 % (PG) during root dip treatment. The average number of tumors was found to be 14.4 in PG sample, followed by 13.0 in GT sample. Both samples have shown high content of lead viz., 39.81 (GT) and 56.48 (PG) during physicochemical analysis of the samples.