Modern Scientific Press

ABSTRACT: Estuaries and sea-associated wetlands are the final destination for organic pollutants due to their chemical and physical properties. The current research studied Parai River and estuary adjacent to the southern South China Sea in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Six samples of surface sediment were taken during January 2012. The samples (top 3 cm) were extracted by Soxhlet using Dichloromethane, subjected to 2 steps of column chromatography for clean-up and fractionation followed by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. The results indicated that the highest concentration of alkane in a full range of even and odd carbon numbers is dominant in the estuary and sea-associated wetland. Estuaries receive the highest level of suspended materials due to continuous interaction between marine saline and riverine fresh water. The high amount of Unresolved Complex Mixture (UCM) indicated an incomplete cycle of degradation and decomposition. Terrestrial input was the most dominant natural entry to the study area where C31/C19 ratio was employed. The study concluded that sea-associated wetlands around the estuary may act as the final sink of organic pollutants in the environment.

ABSTRACT: Salt stress is one of the most serious limiting factors for crop growth and production. In this study, the morphological and biochemical changes of black gram (Vigna mungo L.) under NaCl stress were investigated. The black gram seeds were treated with various concentrations viz., control, 10, 25, 50, 75, 100 and 150 ppm of NaCl. The well grown plants were utilized for analysis of various morphological and biochemical parameters. The morphological growth parameters such as germination percentage, seedling growth and photosynthetic pigments were decreased with increasing concentration of NaCl treatment, while metabolites such as sugar, protein, and proline content were increased at increasing concentrations of NaCl. This investigation demonstrated that decreasing of growth parameters and photosynthetic pigments was due to low osmotic potential at intracellular level generated by NaCl stress.