BIOACCUMULATION OF CHROMIUM (III) IN SILKWORM (BOMBYX MORI L.) IN RELATION TO MULBERRY, SOIL AND WASTEWATER METAL CONCENTRATIONS - M. Ashfaq S. Ahmad; M. Sagheer; M. A. Hanif; S. K. Abbas; M. Yasir (Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences, 2012)
Heavy metals contamination in soil is one of the major environmental concerns due to large quantities of industrial waste in Faisalabad. The research experiments was conducted to determine the entrance of Cr (III) into the food chain of Bombyx mori (silk worm) from mulberry plants irrigated with Cr (III) containing synthetic effluents. For this purpose, the samples of soil, plant, silk glands,silkworm larvae and their excreta were used to determine Cr (III) amount by using Atomic AbsorptionSpectrometry (AAS). The amount of Cr (III) accumulated into soil, in the Morus alba leaves and B. mori larvae increased with pHof the effluent. B. mori excreted considerable amount of Cr (III) but stillmost of Cr (III) remained inside its body. The maximum Cr (III) amount observed in soil, leaves, larvae andfaeces were 99.89± 1.02, 95.67 ± 0.58, 61.32 ± 0.036 and 58.97 ± 0.451 mg/kg, respectively at pH 5 and at 200 concentration (200 mg/L). Cr (III)present in B. mori body produced toxic effects on its life cycle. First instar of B. mori wasmost affected by Cr (III) toxicity. Body length, body weight of B. mori decreased with increase inbio-accumulation Cr (III) amount in larval body. Higher Cr (III) concentration in larval body increased B. mori larval mortality significantly up to 22/100 larvae.
Keywords: journal article; Waste water; mulberry; silkworm; chromium (III)