Bioaccumulation Studies of Organochlorinated Pesticides in Tissues of Cyprinus Carpio

Abstract

Freshwater fish Cyprinus carpio was selected for the study of bioaccumulation of organochlorinated pesticides in tissues like gills, muscle, intestine, kidney, and liver in a continuous fed system. The pesticides used were Aldrin, Dieldrin, BHC, and DDT. The bioaccumulation of Dieldrin was maximum of 85.0 μ g g^{− 1} wet weight in liver tissue while minimum of 7.30 μ g g^{− 1} wet weight for DDT at 30 days exposure time. Bioconcentration factor (BCF) has followed the same trend in liver tissue for Dieldrin and DDT. The rate of bioaccumulation was found to be maximum of 4.3879 μ g g^{− 1} wet weight in liver tissue and minimum of 0.0021 μ g g^{− 1} wet weight in gill tissue for 30 days exposure. As evidenced by the increasing values of BCF, pesticide uptake also showed increased trend with the increase in exposure time. A high correlation coefficient ranging between 0.7247 and 0.9616 between the pesticide concentration and exposure time was observed. Based on actual BCF values, log K_ow were calculated and the values are well within the reported values of 6.5 indicating efficient relationship between BCF and log K_ow, because beyond the 6.5 the bioconcentration levels off.

Keywords:

• Organochlorinated pesticide
• Freshwater fish
• Bioconcentration factor
• Organ distribution
• Bioaccumulation.

Notes

* All values are expressed in mg l⁻¹ except temperature and pH.

* All values are expressed in μ g g⁻¹ wet weight; ND: not detectable.

* Rate of bioaccumulation is expressed in μg g⁻¹ wet weight per day.