998 NAYAK ET AL Environment & Ecology 29 (3) : 998—1002, 2011 © Copyright by MKK Publication 2011 ISSN 0970-0420 Chromium Distribution in Soil and Water in the Vicinity of Chromium Mine Area of Sukinda, Orissa S. C. NAYAK, D. JENA, S. K. SAHU, D. SARANGI AND N. DAS Department of Soil Science & Agriculture Chemistry, Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology OUAT, Bhubaneswar 751003, India Abstract From Sukinda chromite mining area 162 nos. of surface soil samples and 100 nos. of water samples within radious of 0—15 km distance were collected and analyzed for pH and available hexavalent chro- mium. The data revealed that pH of soil and water ranged from 4.56—8.72 and 6.7—9.55 respectively and the hexavalent chromium content ranged from trace to 10.074, trace to 0.553 and trace to 0.192 ppm in soil and 0.008 to 1.93, trace to 0.081 and 0.03 to 0.351 ppm in water within distance of 0—5, 5—10 and 10—15 km respectively. In pot culture study 10 grass spp. were grown in overburden soil and normal soil along with and without fertilizer and FYM. The mean biomass yield of different grass species ranged from 10.35 to 30.82 g/pot. Thin napier grass produced highest significant biomass yield of 41.02 g/pot which was 108.64% higher than overburden soil. Highest significant mean chromium content of 142.50 ppm was recorded when grass species was grown in overburden soil but this value was reduced to 100.41 ppm when overburden soil treated with FYM and fertilizer. The grasses like Sefaria spp. and Stylo hamata showed lowest values of mean chromium content of 25.85 and 28.28 ppm respectively when grown in all types of soil. Key words : Overburden soil, Chromium, Grass species, FYM. Rapid development of industries and urbaniza- tion in India led to environmental pollution. The state of Orissa has vast deposits of about 185 million tonnes of (96% India) of chromite ores spreading over an area of 9197 ha of Sukinda in district of Jajpur which causes serious damage to the environ- ment on its exploration. Hexavalent chromium is toxic to plant, human and animals. Tiwana et al. (1) and Subba Rao (2) reported its adverse effect on soil and crops. Keeping in view of hazardous effect of chro- Table 1. Hexavalent chromium content of soil samples collected around 0—15 km radius from the mine area. Distance No. of Name of from mine samples Range of Range of Mean of the villages area (km) collected pH Cr 6+ (ppm) Cr 6+ (ppm) Kalaringatta 1 23 5.26—8.17 trace—1.971 0.408 Kaliapani 2 23 5.52—7.53 trace—10.074 0.623 South Kaliapani 2 3 5.84—8.48 0.360—2.524 1.097 Chirgunia 2 9 4.97—6.59 0.026—0.721 0.403 Gurujung 2 5 5.30—5.73 0.07—1.082 0.399 Ostia 2 5 5.05—5.81 0.288—1.731 0.846 Sukurungi 3 6 5.08—5.80 0.240—0.721 0.461 Dhabahal 3 6 5.55—6.00 0.216—0.961 0.424 Purunapani 4 10 5.72—8.01 trace—0.673 0.176 Chingudipal 4 9 5.10—5.77 0.240—1.129 0.486 Koiposi 4 5 5.51—5.65 0.360—0.505 0.443 Bansari 5 5 4.56—5.85 0.192—0.745 0.404 Kantabani 5 5 5.40—5.67 0.216—0.360 0.293 Kusumundia 6 10 4.86—6.70 trace—0.433 0.144 Bhalikipatala 8 9 5.03—6.97 0.120—0.553 0.309 Garamia 9 9 5.14—6.41 0.048—0.288 0.133 Kankadapal 11 10 5.43—8.72 trace—0.192 0.106 Kuhika 15 10 4.90—6.03 0.024—0.192 0.117