PHYTOREMEDIATION DRIVEN ASSESSMENT OF AGROCHEMICAL CONTAMINATION IN SOIL AND WATER: A SIMPLIFIED INDEX BASED, ANALYTICAL, AND ECO-TOXICOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The goal of the present study was to assess the levels of agrochemical contamination in soil and water and to evaluate the impact on the environment and sustainability of phytoremediation as a remediation method. Atrazine and chlorpyrifos were chosen as model agrochemical pollutants because of their universal usage in agricultural production and environmental persistence. Water lettuce, Hydrothylax, are commonly found in shallow waters. The aquatic macrophytes that are prevalent in the shallow waters are Eichhornia crassipes (Water Hyacinth) and Hydrothylax. Lemna minor (Duckweed), were used for phytoremediation studies. The work became integrated with High-Spatial analysis, Performance Liquid Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), ecological risk assessment, and statistical analysis are used to analyze the data and ecotoxicological assessment to assess the efficiency of contaminant removal and the environmental recovery. Results Before and after phytoremediation treatment HPLC results showed that significant decrease in atrazine and chlorpyrifos levels. The decrease in peak area of the chromatograms proved that both the plant species were effective at removing contaminants. Among the tested, Duckweed did not show high remediation efficiency when compared to water hyacinth. The more biomass and root system it has, the higher toxicity removal capacity. The decrease of the pollutant levels led to decrease in Contamination Index (CI) and Hazard Quotient (HQ) values, which shows reduced Ecological risk following treatment. Further, analysis of data using mean, standard deviation, one way analysis ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc test results showed that there was significant difference among the treatment groups (p < 0.05). Additionally, ecotoxicological evaluation using germination bioassay of the seeds showed that the germination percentage and root growth in treated samples was improved, which signifies reduced phytotoxicity and improvement of environmental quality. Conclusion The research findings showed that phytoremediation is an effective, environmentally friendly and cost-efficient method for decreasing the concentration of agrochemicals from soil and water. Eichhornia crassipes and Lemna minor were found to be promising species with potential for clean up, with water hyacinth having superior removal efficiency of contaminants. An HPLC based analytical monitoring, coupled with ecological indices, statistical validation and assessment of ecotoxicological effects fulfilled a comprehensive monitoring framework for environmental restoration. In conclusion, results indicate that phytoremediation could be an 6 effective and sustainable approach for agrochemical pollution management and ecological conservation.