Impact of Fly Ash on Soil Enzyme Activity

Impact of Fly Ash on Soil Enzyme Activity

Author Name : Sasmita Dash, Debadatta Dash, Sunanda Sahoo

ABSTRACT

The present study was carried out to assess the pollution status of the soil affected by heavy metals in the Fly ash (FA) generated by sponge iron industry. The effect of heavy metals such as Cd, Pb, Ni, As, Cr, on soil enzyme activities like amylase, protease,dehydrogenase and urease of open shrub lands present at 1 km, 1.5 km, 2 km and 2.5 km distance away from  BSPL (Bhushan sponge iron industry), in Rengali block of Sambalpur district, Odisha during different seasons were assessed. The heavy metals studied were in experimental sites were much more than the safety limits prescribed by World Health Organization, 2004. The concentration of these heavy metals was found to decrease with increasing distance from the stack. Present investigation showed that all the studied soil enzymes (dehydrogenase, amylase,   urease and protease) increased significantly with the increase of distance from the emission source. Seasonal variation of all the enzymes activity showed maximum value in rainy season followed by winter season and least enzymes activity was found during summer season.  In the present study, maximum enzyme activity in the control site was observed indicating a healthy soil with sufficient nutrient contents and microbial activities and reduction in the enzyme activity in the experimental site could be due to high concentration of  heavy metals present  in FA.

Key words: fly ash, heavy metal, enzyme activity, correlation