Fluoride contamination in wetlands of Kuttanad, India: Predisposing edaphic factors

Authors : Vasanthakumari ROSHNİ, Variampally Sankar HARİKUMAR

Pages : 61-68

Doi:10.18393/ejss.814006

View : 17 | Download : 5

Publication Date : 2021-01-01

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Fluoride contamination has now become an emerging concern in agroecosystems. A diagnostic survey was conducted across the fluoride insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(F-); contaminated wetlands of Kuttanad, India with an aim to examine the influence of edaphic factors on F- concentration in soils. The soils insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(Inceptisols); predominantly sandy had a substantial percentage of clay and the soil characteristics such as bulk density insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(BD);, moisture, temperature, pH, electrical conductivity insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(EC);, cation exchange capacity insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(CEC); and organic carbon insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(OC); varied with soils. Similarly, the soil nutrients insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(NPK); and the oxides of Fe and Al as well as total sesquioxide differed with soils. Principal component analysis insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(PCA); revealed that the first two components insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(PC1 and PC2); significantly explained the variability existed in the data while the third component insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(PC3); did not explain any variation compared to the first two components. PC1, PC2 and PC3 accounted for 52.2%, 12.7% and 11.3% of the variation in the profiles respectively. Out of soil samples, 53% had a similar distribution of soil characteristics and F- concentration and are grouped together in PC1 while, the remaining 47% of the samples had a similar distribution of characteristics and are grouped together in PC2. Among the soil characteristics examined, silt content, pH, EC, CEC, OC, N and P had a significant insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(P<0.001); positive association along PC1 indicating that these factors are contributing to the augmentation of F- concentration in the wetlands of Kuttanad.
Keywords : Fluoride contamination, wetland soil, edaphic factors