African Journal of Environmental and Waste Management

African Journal of Environmental and Waste Management ISSN 2375-1266 Vol. 12 (3), pp. 001-010, March, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Review

Emerging Insights from Fish Ecogenotoxicology: Applications in Environmental Monitoring and Risk Assessment

Akpoilih B. U.

Department of Animal Science and Fisheries, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria
E-mail: [email protected]; Phone: +234(0)8134381645

Accepted 10 October, 2024

Ecogenotoxicology (genetic ecotoxicology) is an approach that applies the principles and techniques of genetic toxicology to assess the potential effects of environmental pollution in the form of genotoxic agents on the health of the ecosystem. Contrary to human toxicology studies which focus on the fate of the individual, ecogenotoxicology evaluates the consequences of genotoxicants for population sizes and structure, but applies the principles of genetic toxicology in hazard and risk assessment. Genetic hazard assessment, thus, deals with changes in genetic material of organisms, either human or other natural origin. Several reviews demonstrate the presence and potency of genotoxins from a broad range of industrial and municipal effluents. There is a close association of DNA damage, mutation, and induction of various types of cancer. Fish serves as useful genetic model for the evaluation of pollution in aquatic ecosystems. Fish species from contaminated areas initiated studies in the aquatic environment and evidence is growing that environmental mutagens can reduce the reproductive success of populations. Different genotoxicity tests and their applications to environmental monitoring and assessment have been variously reported in fish. This review paper, thus, examines the use of ecogenotoxicology in environmental monitoring, the role of fish in genotoxicity testing of pollutants, genetic basis in genotoxicological assessment, cur rent methods of ecogenotoxicological hazard assessment using fish in vitro and in vivo, and their applications to environmental monitoring as well as recent advances in the field of fish ecogenotoxicology. Limitations and recommendations for further research on the use of ecogenotoxicology was also highlighted.

Keywords: Ecogenotoxicology, Environmental monitoring, Risk assessment, DNA damage, Genotoxicity tests.
 

African Journal of Environmental and Waste Management ISSN 2375-1266 Vol. 12 (3), pp. 001-006, March, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Toxic Effects of Copper on Hematopoietic Progenitors and Circulating Blood Cells in Rats

Azza A. El-Masry

Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Egypt
E-mail: [email protected]

Accepted 03 September, 2024

This research was carried out to test the cytotoxic effects of copper in rats. Animals were divided into three groups, 5 animals each. Low dose of (2mg /kg) and high dose (4mg/kg) of copper sulphate were force-fed into the animal by a stomach tube daily for 3 weeks and the third group was used as control. At the end of each week three animals (one of each group) were randomly selected and sacrificed. Blood was collected and blood smears were made. The bone marrow was collected from the heads of long-bones and bone marrow smears were also prepared. It has been found that application of copper sulphate doses modulates the proliferation and differentiation of stem cell progenitors and erythrocytes. Several alterations were observed; they were time - and dose -dependent. Of these alterations predominant existence of giant proerythroblasts and promyeloblasts, marked increase of adipose cells, degeneration of proerthroblasts among the bone marrow cells. The most damage criteria in the blood erythrocytes were hypochromia, anisocytosis, fragmentation and burr-shaped erythrocytes. These observations suggest the cytotoxic effect of copper and that it is a modulatory factor of stem cell progenitors and blood erythrocytes.

Keywords: Copper toxicity- bone marrow- progenitors - Blood- Rats.
 

African Journal of Environmental and Waste Management ISSN 2375-1266 Vol. 12 (3), pp. 001-006, March, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Impact of Organic Pollutants on Spikelet Formation and Fertility in NERICA Rice Varieties

Falodun D*, Njoku K. L., Ogunyebi A. L. and Akinola M. O.

Environmental Biology Laboratory, Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, Nigeria.

Accepted 03 September, 2024

Rice plants with relatively high tolerance to organic pollution will be of great interest to crop producers. Therefore, ability of three NERICA rice varieties (Mecux, Tox and WitA.4) to grow and reproduce in petroleum polluted soils was investigated. The rice plants were grown for 120 days on soil contaminated with organic pollutants mixture (fresh diesel, gasoline and spent engine oil). Thereafter, each variety was analyzed based on its ability to produce panicles, spikelets and fertile spikelets. Numbers of filled spikelets were mostly affected, for instance; Mecux, Tox and WitA.4 numbers of filled spikelets were significantly reduced when compared with the control at P < 0.01, P < 0.001 and P < 0.0001. It seems that exposure of rice seedlings to organic xenobiotics has some relationships with agronomic characteristics, especially spikelet filling, although there were no significant reductions in percentage spikelet fertility of all the three varieties of the NERICA rice. The analysis in this study strongly reinforced the pertinence of enforcing environmental regulations and equally looking for food crops that can withstand organic xenobiotics thereby increasing yield potentials.

Keywords: Panicle number, spikelet fertility, NERICA rice, grain filling, petroleum, flag leaf area.
 

African Journal of Environmental and Waste Management ISSN 2375-1266 Vol. 12 (2), pp. 001-008, February, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Comparative Evaluation of MgSO4 and NaHCO3 for Extracting Available Phosphorus from Calcareous Soils

Fahad N. Assubaie

Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Faisal University, P.O. Box 400, Al-Hassa - 31982, Saudi Arabia
E-mail: [email protected]; Tel: +966 554225521

Accepted 03 September, 2024

The effect of MgSO4 and MgCl2 on the release of available soil phosphorus was investigated and compared with the classical method of Olsen using NaHCO3. The experiments were carried out on soil samples from Al- Hassa oasis, Saudi Arabia. The soil samples were shaken with 0.004, 0.008, 0.5 M MgSO4, 0.5 M MgCl2 and 0.5 M NaHCO3. The results demonstrated that the amount of extractable phosphorus (P) by MgCl2 was lower than those extracted by NaHCO3 or MgSO4. Nevertheless, MgCl2 extracted P about 33% to 81% of that extracted by NaHCO3 and MgSO4 respectively. The application of different levels of P fertilizer did not significantly affect MgSO4 solution extractability. The correlation coefficients were 0.823, 0.908, and 0.879 for soil treated with 71.4, 142.9, 214.3 kg P2O5/h respectively. The original pH of MgSO4 solutions was 6.7 however, the pH of soil-MgSO4 suspensions slightly decreased with the increasing MgSO4 concentrations. On the other hand, the pH of soil suspension in 0.5 M MgSO4 increased with time, without shaking, reaching 7.6 within 24 h of incubation and then became stable. The same result was achieved when the soil suspension was shaken for 20 minutes. The pH of other MgSO4 concentrations became stable at 7.6 within 24 h. The amount of extractable P in the presence of MgSO4 increased with the increasing reaction time. The correlation coefficients between extracted phosphorus with 0.5 M NaHCO3 and that of extracted with 0.5 M MgSO4 after shaking for 20 and 30 minutes were 0.938 and 0.892 respectively. Accordingly, a 0.5 M MgSO4 solution can be efficiently used for extracting available phosphorus from calcareous soils, and without adjusting its pH. Moreover, its use will avoid the limitation of evolution of CO2 from NaHCO3 - basic extraction solution upon treatment with acidic molybdate for the determination of phosphorus.

Keywords: MgSO4, MgCl2, NaHCO3, phosphorus, calcareous soil.
 

African Journal of Environmental and Waste Management ISSN 2375-1266 Vol. 12 (2), pp. 001-018, February, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Assessing Water Quality and Portability of Rivers in Rivers State, Nigeria: A Physicochemical Analysis

*Ukpaka C. P. and Chuku J.

Department of Chemical/Petrochemical Engineering, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Nkpolu, P.M.B. 5080, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Accepted 14 August, 2024

The research work was focus on examining the physiochemical parameters of some rivers within Rivers state (Port Harcourt, Obi Akpor, and Oyigbo) as well as the portability of the river water for human utilization and for agricultural purposes. Based on these physiochemical parameters results obtained from the various rivers indicate high level of contamination. All the four rivers sampled, results obtained revealed that the industrial activities is one of the major agent of pollution. These findings cast some doubt because many communities living within the river area fish daily and use the fish for domestic cooking as well for human consumption as no relative effect on the body system for now. Some of the communities use the river water for drinking and washing. The oral examination on the quality and effect of the river water to them indicate positive answer “no effect on us’’ the water is good for human utilization. In conclusion, the results obtained from the research work indicate high level of pollution. Although the effect on people is insignificant for now, but in the next ten years the effect on the people will be significant, if they continued to use these rivers water as a source of their drinking water. The toxicity of the river water will also be high in such a way that it will be corrosive in nature and bad for inhabitant.

Keywords: Investigating, Physiochemical Parameters, Portability, Rivers Water, Nigeria.
 

African Journal of Environmental and Waste Management ISSN 2375-1266 Vol. 12 (2), pp. 001-007, February, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper
    
Cassava Wastewater Treatment by Alkali-Induced Degradation: A Detoxification Strategy

Emmanuel I. Ugwu* and Jonah C. Agunwamba

Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Accepted 07 October, 2024

Cassava wastewater contains toxic materials that can endanger humans, as well as other living organisms if they are not properly treated before disposal. In order to address this problem, there is an urgent need to develop simple and efficient technologies for management of cassava wastewater, especially in tropical developing countries where cassava is extensively processed, and consumed on daily basis. This study was therefore, aimed at treating cassava wastewater by using alkali hydrolysis. Degradation products of cassava wastewater were characterized using different parameters under static and batch fermentation modes. With batch reactor as a model, hydrolysis of cassava wastewater over 20 days upon with wide range of NaOH concentrations was investigated. With 0.25 M NaOH, cyanide concentration was greatly hydrolyzed (44-fold) in 20 days. Furthermore, the alkali treatment drastically reduced the coliforms and reduced the biochemical oxygen demand in the cassava wastewater. This study apparently indicated that alkali treatment was very efficient in degrading the waste compounds from cassava. This system can be explored further for potential degradation of waste water treatment in tropical developing countries.

Keywords: Cassava, cyanide, hydrolysis, alkali, wastewater.