Author(s): Suryaprabha N and Dr. Raja S

Abstract: Microplastic waste is a pervasive type of contaminant in aquatic ecosystems, being considered a major threat to aquatic biota. One of the problems of microplastics is that they can produce leachates in extremely high concentrations when these leachates are released from the plastic particle; they have the potential to cause toxic effects in the biota. The main objective of the current research is focused on the investigation of microplastic toxicity in controlled aquaponic system. To achieve this natural photo degraded plastics were given to the fish along with economically prepared feed after a period of time, fishes and plants were analyzed for growth parameters. The results showed that in control were no microplastics were added was Initially 9.46 ± 0.24 in the first day of experiment and the final weight was 63.71 ± 0.57 on the final day, whereas in the experimental set up, final weight was 61.37 ± 1.03. The Initial length of fishes were 6.38 ± 0.12 in day 1 and the final length was 16.84 ± 0.53 in day 56 in control and 15.25 ± 0.16 in experiment. Length gain of control fishes and experiment fishes were 10.45±0.59 and 8.86±0.16. These results show that there was a minor reduction in growth of fishes when microplastics were added. The presence of leachates may be the reason for the reduced growth in fishes. Further biochemical, histopathological studies in fishes and hormonal studies in plants are needed to confirm the impact of leachates of microplastics in the aquaponic system.

Pages: 307-310  |  709 Views  148 Downloads

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