Vol. 9, Issue 2 (2020)

Author(s):
Deepika Kadyan and Niti Chawla

Abstract:
Evaluation of impact of an organophosphate pesticide, chlorpyriphos on soil quality indicators such as microbial populations and enzymatic activities has been done in the present study. Soil collected from cotton cultivated field of Bawani Khera, Bhiwani (Haryana, India) was administered with different concentrations of chlorpyriphos i.e. 0.1 ppm, 1 ppm, 10 ppm, 100 ppm. Control was also kept with no treatment with pesticide. Populations of bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi and activities of enzymes such as amylase, invertase, alkaline phosphatase and acidic phosphatase were assessed at 1^st, 7^th, 14^th and 21^st day of incubation. Lower concentrations (0.1ppm and 1ppm) were found to be beneficial but higher concentrations (10ppm and 100ppm) lead to reduction in microbial populations and enzymatic activities. Bacterial, actinomycetal and fungal populations were found to decrease by 31%, 20% and 32% with the concentration of 10 ppm and 70%, 61% and 40% with the 100 ppm respectively. Similar trend of reduction was also observed in the enzymatic activities. Amylase, invertase, alkaline phosphatase and acidic phosphatase activities showed overall reduction of 11%, 16%, 38% and 18% with the application of 10 ppm and 60%, 66%, 67% and 54% with the application of 100 ppm of the chlorpyriphos respectively.