Diversity Status of Beneficial Microorganisms in Heavy Metal Polluted Tannery Effluent Treatment Area in Dindugal, Tamil Nadu

Industrial waste is one of the most essential sources of contamination in the surface environment. Among different industries, tannery industry releases huge amount of pollutants into the ecosystem. Long term disposal of the tannery wastes has resulted in wide contamination of agricultural land and water sources in different parts of India. An attempt was made to study the diversity status of different microbial organisms in tannery effluent treated samples in Dindugal, Tamil Nadu. It was found that Electrical Conductivity (EC) and heavy metal contents were higher and population density of different beneficial microbes found better. Among different microbes isolated, phosphate solubilizing microbes (PSB) was found maximum which is followed by fungi and actinomycetes. The population density of non-symbiotic and symbiotic nitrogen fixers were found to be low in numbers when compared to other samples screened. Similarly, occurrence and distribution of AM fungal spores were also found low in heavy metal polluted samples as compared to the samples collected from non-polluted outside tannery effluent treatment area. Among different Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, Glomus species was found to be dominant in the samples collected from outside tannery effluent treatment area as compared to tannery effluent samples.