Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Impact of brickfields on soil quality of agricultural land along the Bhagirathi-Hugli river basin, West Bengal, India

  • Published:
Spatial Information Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The study has been conducted to evaluate the impact of brickfields on soil quality of agricultural land around the brickfields within the study area of the Bhagirathi-Hugli river basin. It has been carried out by determining the chemical properties such as pH, electrical conductivity (EC), organic carbon (OC), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) of soil. In this study, 18 samples have been collected from 6 brickfields of distance 100, 400 and 800 m respectively of depth 0–25 cm. The data show that pH and EC are decreased from increasing distances of the brickfields but the value of OC, N, P, and K are increased from increasing distances of the brick kilns. The result of ANOVA shows that EC has insignificant differences, but P within different distant zones. Tukey test informs that P is remarkably different between the distant groups of 100–800 m and 400–800 m but 100–400 m at the significant value of 0.05. Results of the Kruskal–Wallis test indicates that the soil pH and potassium (K) are significantly different, but OC and N are not. The Dwass–Steel–Critchlow–Fligner test also indicates that the different distant groups of pH (100–400 m and 400–800 m) and K (400–800 m) are of a trivial difference in the significant value of 0.05. The overall study reveals that the quality of the soil is deteriorating close to brickfield from far distances due to indiscriminate activities of brick kiln industry.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Sharma, P. D. (2011–2012). Ecology and environment (11th, rev. edn). Meerut: Rastogi Publication. www.rastogipublications.com.

  2. Husain, M. (2008). Systematic agricultural geography. Jaipur: Rawat Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Biswas, D., Gurley, E. S., Rutherford, S., & Luby, S. P. (2018). The drivers and impacts of selling soil for brick making in Bangladesh. Environmental Management,62, 792–802. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-018-1072-z.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Kahl, H. (2004). Role and importance of nitrogen in your soil. Organic NZ Magazine. Retrieved Feb 7, 2019, from https://organicnz.org.nz/magazine-articles/role-importance-nitrogen-soil.

  5. Patra, P., Guray, A., & Ganguly, S. (2015). A study on brick kiln industry in Pursura block of Hooghly District, West Bengal. International Journal of Applied Research,1(9), 95–99.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Chanda, D. (2016). A study on socio-demographic and health condition of brickfield workers in different areas of Bangladesh. Dhaka: East–West University.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Sarkar, M. A. W., Kabir, M. H., Lira, S. A., Razzaque, A., & Sarker, M. R. H. (2016). Comparison of soil nutrients status between an agricultural land close by brickfield and a productive agricultural land for agricultural activities in Sadar Upazilla, Sherpur. Bangladesh. Journal of Soil and Nature,9(1), 8–12.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Khan, H. R., Rahman, K., Abdur Rouf, A. J. M., Sattar, G. S., Oki, Y., & Adachi, T. (2007). Assessment of degradation of agricultural soils arising from brick burning in selected soil profiles. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology,4(4), 471–480.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Nath, A. J., Lal, R., & Das, A. K. (2018). Fired bricks: CO2 emission and food insecurity. Global Challenges,2, 1700115. https://doi.org/10.1002/gch2.201700115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Moscrip, A. L., & Montgomery, D. R. (1997). Urbanization, flood frequency and salmon abundance in Puget lowland streams. Journal of the American Water Resources Association,33, 1289–1297.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Collier, M., Webb, R. H., & Schmidt, J. C. (1996). Dams and rivers, a primer on the downstream effects of dam (1st ed.). Tucson: U.S. Geological Survey, Circular 1126.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Bandyopadhyay, S., Ghosh, K., Saha, S., Chakravorti, S., & De, S. K. (2013). Status and impact of brickfields on the river Haora, West Tripura. Transactions,35(2), 275–286.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Gupta, S., & Narayan, R. (2010). Brick kiln industry in long-term impacts biomass and diversity structure of plant communities. Current Science,99(1), 72–79.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Islam, M. S., Mamun, S. A., Muliadi, M., Rana, S., Tusher, T. R., & Roy, S. (2015). The impact of brick kiln operation to the degradation of topsoil quality of agricultural land. Agrivita,37(3), 204–209. https://doi.org/10.17503/agrivita.v37i3.596.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Imtiaz, M., Rashid, A., Khan, P., Memon, M. Y., & Aslam, M. (2010). The role of micronutrients in crop production and human health. Pakistan Journal of Botany,42(4), 2565–2578.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Annepu, S. K., Shirur, M., & Sharma, V. P. (2017). Assessment of soil fertility status of Mid Himalayan region. Himachal Pradesh. Indian Journal of Ecology,44(2), 226–231.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Das, R. (2017). Mining top-soil for brick making and cost feedback to economy and environment—an assessment on the brick manufacturing of Khejuri CD blocks over coastal Medinipur in West Bengal, India. International Journal of Advanced Research,5(6), 210–224. https://doi.org/10.21474/IJAR01/4401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Shivanna, A. M., & Nagendrappa, G. (2014). Chemical analysis of soil samples to evaluate the soil fertility status of selected command areas of three tanks in Tiptur Taluk of Karnataka, India. IOSR Journal of Applied Chemistry (IOSR-JAC),7(11), 01–05.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Sanda, A. R., & Ismail, Y. M. (2012). Soil fertility assessment of research and teaching farm of Audu Bako College of agriculture danbatta, Kano State, Nigeria. Nature, Environment and Pollution Technology,11(4), 639–642.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Jibrin, J. M., Abubakar, S. Z., & Suleiman, A. (2008). Soil fertility status of Kano River irrigation project area in the Sudan Savanna of Nigeria. Journal of Applied Sciences,8(4), 692–696.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Molla, H. R. (2011). Embankment of lower Ajoy River and its impact on brick-kiln industry in Central Bengal, India. International Journal of Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, 2(II), http://www.ijrssh.com/.

  22. Bisht, G., & Neupane, S. (2015). Impact of brick kilns’ emission on soil quality of agriculture fields in the vicinity of selected Bhaktapur area of Nepal. Applied and Environmental Soil Science. https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/409401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. District census handbook, Nadia. (2001). Directorate of census operations. West Bengal.

  24. Study area: A general perspective. Retrieved Feb 17, 2019, from https://shodhgangathe.inflibnet.ac.in.

  25. Rahman, M., Howladar, M. F., & Faruque, M. O. (2017). Assessment of soil quality for agricultural purposes around the Barapukuria coal mining industrial area, Bangladesh: insights from chemical and multivariate statistical analysis. Environmental Systems Research,6, 24. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40068-017-0101-x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Carter, M. R., & Gregorich, E. G. (2007). Soil sampling and methods of analysis (2nd ed.). Routledge: Canadian Society of Soil Science, Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  27. Rogerson, P. A. (2010). A statistical method for the detection of geographic clustering. Geographical Analysis,33(3), 216–237. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.15384632.2001.tb00445.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Howladar, M. F., & Rahman, M. M. (2016). Characterization of underground tunnel water hydrochemical system and uses through multivariate statistical methods: a case study from Maddhapara Granite Mine, Dinajpur, Bangladesh. Environmental Earth Sciences,75, 1501. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-016-6309-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Rajonee, A. A., & Uddin, Md. J. (2018). Changes in soil properties with distance in brick kiln areas around Barisal. Open Journal of Soil Science,8, 118–128. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojss.2018.83009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Gravetter, F. J. & Wallnau, L. B. (2009). Statistics for the behavioral sciences (8th edition). Wadsworth, USA.

  31. Good, P. I., & Lunneborg, C. (2006). Limitations of the analysis of variance. Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods,5(1), 41–43. https://doi.org/10.22237/jmasm/1146456240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Karakhan, A., Gambatese, J., Alomari, K., & Liu, D. (2018). Consideration of worker safety in the design process: A statistical-based approach using analysis of variance (ANOVA). In Construction research congress 2018: Safety and disaster management, New Orleans, Louisiana (pp. 378–379). https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784481288.037. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326031771.

  33. One way analysis of variance + post hoc tests. Retrieved Feb 1, 2019, from https://www.brookes.ac.uk/Documents/Students/Upgrade/example-anova/.

  34. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Retrieved Feb 6, 2019, from http://www.real-statistics.com/one-way-analysis-of-variance-anova/.

  35. ANOVA for Comparing More Than Two Samples. Retrieved Feb 2, 2019, from http://academics.wellesley.edu/Course_Information/Desktop/anova108.

  36. Sedgwick, P. (2014). One way analysis of variance: Post hoc testing. BMJ,349, g7067. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g7067.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Benjamini, Y., & Braun, H. (2002). John W. Tukey’s contributions to multiple comparisons. The Annals of Statistics,30(6), 1576–1594.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. McHugh, M. L. (2011). Multiple comparison analysis testing in ANOVA. Biochemia Medica,21(3), 203–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Anuar, H. S., & Udin, Z. M. (2013). Post-hoc analysis on the R&D capabilities of chemical and metallurgical manufacturing. Management Information Systems,8(3), 17–24.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Stevens (1999). Post hoc tests in ANOVA, https://pages.uoregon.edu/stevensj/posthoc.pdf.

  41. Use and interpret Tukey’s HSD. Retrieved Feb 2, 2019, from https://www.scalelive.com/tukeys-hsd.

  42. Haidary, A., Amiri, B. J., Adamowski, J., Fohrer, N., & Nakane, K. (2013). Assessing the impacts of four land use types on the water quality of wetlands in Japan. Water Resources Management,27, 2217–2229. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-013-0284-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Blonska, E., & Lasota, J. (2014). Biological and biochemical properties in evaluation of forest soil quality. Folia Forestalia Polonica, Series A,56(1), 23–29. https://doi.org/10.2478/ffp-2014-0003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Emoyan, O. O., Akporido, S. O., & Agbaire, P. O. (2018). Effects of soil pH, total organic carbon and texture on fate of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soils. Global NEST Journal,20(2), 181–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Conover, W. J., & Iman, R. L. (1979). On multiple-comparisons procedures. In: LA-7677-MS lnforma Report, Texas Tech University, USA.

  46. McDonald, J. H. (2014). Handbook of biological statistics (3rd edn). Baltimore, Maryland: Sparky House Publishing. http://www.biostathandbook.com/kruskalwallis.html.

  47. Kruskal-Wallis H test (2019). Definition, examples & assumptions. Retrieved Feb 4, 2019, from https://www.statisticshowto.datasciencecentral.com/kruskal-wallis/.

  48. Day, R. W., & Quinn, G. P. (1989). Comparisons of treatments after an analysis of variance in ecology. Ecological Monographs,59(4), 433–463.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Jackson, M. L. (1973). Soil chemical analysis. New Jersey: Prentice Hall of Englewood Cliffs.

    Google Scholar 

  50. Jackson, M. L. (1976). Soil chemical analysis. New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  51. Manohar, R. S. (2013). Practical manual for soil, plant and water analysis (p. 73). Jobner: Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, S.K.N. Agriculture University.

    Google Scholar 

  52. Subiah, B. V., & Asija, G. L. (1956). A rapid procedure for the determination of available nitrogen in soil. Current Science,25, 259–260.

    Google Scholar 

  53. Rai, A. K., Paul, B., & Singh, G. (2009). Assessment of topsoil quality in the vicinity of subsided area in the south-eastern part of Jharia Coalfield, Jharkhand, India. In: Report and opinion, United States. http://www.sciencepub.net/report.

  54. Srinivasamurthy, C. A., Ramakrishna Parama, V. R., Hanumantharaju, T. H., & Sudhir, K. (2010). Practical manual for hands-on training/experimental learning. GKVK: Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, College of Agricultural Sciences.

    Google Scholar 

  55. Richards, L. A. (1954). Diagnosis and improvement of saline and alkali soils. In: Agricultural handbook 60. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture.

  56. Olsen, S. R., Cole, C. V., Watanabe, F. S., & Dean, F. S. (1954). Estimation of available phosphorus in soils by extraction with sodium bicarbonate. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, https://openlibrary.org/books/OL25604885M/.

  57. Bray, R. H., & Kurtz, L. T. (1945). Determination of total, organic, and available forms of phosphorus in soils. Soil Science,59, 39–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Hesse, P. R. (1971). A textbook of soil chemical analysis. New Work: Chemical Publishing Co.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the Department of Geography for providing all the support during the study period. The authors also acknowledge Dipankar Biswas, Sanjay Das and The State Agricultural Management and Extension Training Institute (SAMETI), Kolkata for their contributions to this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Adamas University, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700126, India

    Sanat Das & Rajib Sarkar

Authors
  1. Sanat Das
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rajib Sarkar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sanat Das.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interests

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 15 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Das, S., Sarkar, R. Impact of brickfields on soil quality of agricultural land along the Bhagirathi-Hugli river basin, West Bengal, India. Spat. Inf. Res. 28, 405–418 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41324-019-00304-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41324-019-00304-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation