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Prevalence of heavy metal resistance in bacteria isolated from tannery effluents and affected soil

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Abstract

In the present study, a total of 198 bacteria were isolated, 88 from the tannery effluents and 110 from agricultural soil irrigated with the tannery effluents. Tannery effluents and soils were analyzed for metal concentrations by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The tannery effluents and soil samples were found to be contaminated with chromium, nickel, zinc, copper, and cadmium. All isolates were tested for their resistance against Cr6 + , Cr3 + , Ni2 + , Zn2 + , Cu2 + , Cd2 + , and Hg2 + . From the total of 198 isolates, maximum bacterial isolates were found to be resistant to Cr6 +  178 (89.9%) followed by Cr3 +  146 (73.7%), Cd2 +  86 (43.4%), Zn2 +  83 (41.9%), Ni2 +  61 (30.8%), and Cu2 +  51 (25.6%). However, most of the isolates were sensitive to Hg2 + . Among the isolates from tannery effluents, 97.8% were resistant to Cr6 +  and 64.8% were resistant to Cr3 + . Most of the soil isolates were resistant against Cr6 +  (83.6%) and Cr3 +  (81.8%). All isolates were categorized into Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. In a total of 114 Gram-positive isolates, 91.2% were resistant to Cr6 +  followed by 73.7% to Cr3 + , 42.1% to Zn2 + , 40.4% to Cd2 + , and 32.5% to Ni2 + . Among Gram-negative isolates, 88.1% were found showing resistance to Cr6 + , 75.0% to Cr3 + , and 47.6% were resistant to Cd2 + . Majority of these metal-resistant isolates were surprisingly found sensitive to the ten commonly used antibiotics. Out of 198 isolates, 114 were found sensitive to all antibiotics whereas only two isolates were resistant to maximum eight antibiotics at a time. Forty-one and 40 isolates which constitute 20.7% and 20.2% were resistant to methicilin and amoxicillin, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, 202 002, India

    Mohammad Zubair Alam & Abdul Malik

  2. Microbiology Division, Institute of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, J.N. Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, 202 002, India

    Shamim Ahmad

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  1. Mohammad Zubair Alam
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  2. Shamim Ahmad
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Correspondence to Mohammad Zubair Alam.

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Alam, M.Z., Ahmad, S. & Malik, A. Prevalence of heavy metal resistance in bacteria isolated from tannery effluents and affected soil. Environ Monit Assess 178, 281–291 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-010-1689-8

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