A Study on Aquatic Macrophytes and Their Role as an Indicator of Water Pollution in Darrang District, Assam, North East India

Pollution is one of the highly discussed subjects globally in the recent past due to its adverse impact on the ecosystem. Many organisations have been managing plants as an indicator of pollution maybe it is soil, water, or air. In view of the above, a study was endeavoured to understand the role of aquatic macrophytes in understanding the water pollution in Darrang district of Assam between 2017-18 years. As many as four plant species namely Commelina benghalensis L., Hygroryza aristata (Retz.) Nees ex Wight & Arn., Sagittaria sagittifolia L. and Enhydra fluctuans Lour. were selected based on their availability around the year in the region. For the present study, two sampling sources were selected namely Bega River flows in the middle of Mangaldai town and the other was a channel/stream of Brahmaputra River near Ganderimari and Mowamari Chapari. The physico-chemical properties of the water were analysed to assess the water quality of the water bodies. Morphological and anatomy of the leaf of the plants were done to ascertain the effects of pollution. The result shows the pollutants have influenced greatly in the growth of the plants studied with a varied range.