VOL. 7, NO. 5, MAY 2012 ISSN 1990-6145 ARPN Journal of Agricultural and Biological Science © 2006-2012 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN). All rights reserved. www.arpnjournals.com 342 PHYSICO-CHEMICAL NATURE OF OIL REFINERY EFFLUENTS AND IT’S EFFECTS ON SEED GERMINATION OF CERTAIN PLANT SPECIES Allah Bakhsh Gulshan 1, 2 and Altaf Ahmad Dasti 2 1 Department of Botany, Government Postgraduate College, Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab, Pakistan 2 Institute of Pure and Applied Biology, Bahauddin Zakariyya University, Multan, Punjab, Pakistan E-Mail: abgul_dgk@hotmail.com ABSTRACT The research work focused oil refinery effluents effects on physicochemical properties of soil. The effluents are usually considered undesirable for arable land, plants and animals. The surrounding environments of an oil refinery are continuously effected by the adding of its effluents. Effluents contain many different chemicals at different concentrations including Sulphates, Chlorides and hydrocarbons and Sodium etc. The Pak-Arab Oil Refinery Muzzafar Garh, Pakistan is continuously disposing off its effluents in River Indus that may be harmful to vegetation of down flow areas. We studied that physico-chemical nature of refinery effluents and its effects on seeds germination of Gossypium hirsutum L., Zea mays L. and Sesamum indicum L. and found that the more concentrated effluents of oil refinery was significantly effect (P>000***) on seed germination of three tested plant species. More over Zea mays showed the little effect than the other two species. Keywords: Pak Arab oil refinery, effluents, pollution, seed germination. INTRODUCTION Industrial effluents are usually considered as undesirable for arable soil, plants, animals and human health because these contained heavy and trace metals like Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Co, Zn, Ni, As, Cd and Pb are discharged continuously into water source (streams/ nullahs, canals and rivers) are allowed to spread on agricultural lands. The unplanned disposal of these effluents has increased the threat of environmental pollution (Gulfraz et al., 2003). Industrialization during 19 th century changed mankind’s life style. New technology raised man’s standard and made life more comfortable but with increasing industrial development, safe disposal of industrial waste water has become the more ecological challenge. Environmental degradation has now become a global problem and maintaining ecosystem health is a serious issue being confronted by the environmentalists (Kumar, 2011) Petroleum, generally referred to as “crude oil”, is a mixture of hydrocarbons, oils and chemicals obtained below the sub-surface of the earth. Crude oil contains a mixture of complex hydrocarbon molecules. The hydrocarbons are classified into the following: Normal alkanes, branched alkanes, cycloalkanes and the aromatics (benzene, phenol, toluene, xylene and catechol (Njoku, 2004). Crude oil spill is the release of crude petroleum hydrocarbons into the environment due to human activities and are classified into two main types; the land (on-shore) and the marine (off-shore) oil spills. Land oil spill occurs when crude oil is released on land which affects soil ecosystem. The different ways by which crude oil enter the environment are from natural seeps (1%), atmospheric input (1%), off-shore production (1%), coastal and estuarine effluents (3%), non-refinery industrial wastes (5%), municipal wastes (5%), urban run-off (5%), rivers (26%) and oil waste discharge from oil industries (53%) (Okereke, 2006) Environmental pollution is a matter of great concern and has been accepted as a global problem because of its adverse effects (Irshad et al., 1997). In literature various studies showed that biologists, all over the globe, are monitoring the industrial effluents by chemical analysis and studying the effects on biota of effected area (Lenwood and Dennis, 2005). However many studies are available about the effect of effluents on seed germination of important crops (Rajesh, 1995; Barnah and Das, 1997; Ruhina, 1995; Crowe et al., 2002) Due to continuous increase of fuel demand, the developing countries like Pakistan are establishing the oil and gas industries and their effluents can be environmental hazardous as studied by Lenwood and Dennis (2005). Therefore the management of oil and gas industrial environments requires constant monitoring of their effluents. The essence of such monitoring is to ascertain the level of compliance of such industries with the pollution control guide lines set by regulating agencies (Uyigue, 2002). Pak-Arab Oil Refinery (PARCO) is situated in district Muzzafar Garh, Punjab and has been in operation since 19 th February 2001. The refinery disposed off its treated effluents in an irrigated water channels. No previous study about its effluents physico-chemical nature and effects on living organisms is available in literature. Therefore, in this study we are firstly reporting the physico- chemical analysis of Pak-Arab Oil Refinery (PARCO) effluents and its effects on seed germination of three important crops usually cultivated in affected area.