Toxicity of Vrishabhavathy river water and sediment to the growth of phaseolus vulgharis (french beans)

Vrishabhavathy river is a tertiary tributary of river Cauvery, passing through many thickly populated residential and industrial areas in Bangalore city, India. This river has taken the wrath of industrial and domestic effluents over half a century and hence has been considerably polluted. The present paper is aimed at determining the suitability of the river water for agricultural purposes by finding out the effect of the use of river water and sediment on the growth of French beans compared to a control with loamy soil and bore-well water free from heavy metals and organic matter. No heavy metal was present in the edible part of the plant. It was observed that the height of plants, number of leaves, number of flowers, number of pods and biomass were all more than that with control for all combinations with river water and sediment. The results have been statistically analysed and presented in the paper. All the parameters studied were highly influenced by either river water with loamy soil or reduced composition of sediment soil with river water over river water with sediment or the control. It is concluded that this river water and sediment might be used as a source of fertilizer for better growth of plants. Presence of heavy metals though high in water and sediment does not enter the food chain and hence poses no threat.