Assessment of soil quality in relationship with aluminium phosphide (ALP) and rotenone in selected fish ponds of Rajshahi district in Bangladesh

Abstract

The aim of this research was to assess the soil quality parameters in relationship with two fish killer chemicals, aluminium phosphide (AlP) and rotenone in some selected fish ponds at Taherpur Municipality under Bagmara Upazila of Rajshahi District in Bangladesh from July 2018 to December 2018. AlP and rotenone are frequently used in the water of the study area to remove all kinds of fish species to prepare a pond before start-up. At this time, a total of 10 different soil quality parameters viz., pH, organic matter (OM), total nitrogen (TN), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), phosphorus (P), sulfur (S), zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) were examined against the fish killer chemical with control. Analyzing the results obtained, only mean values of pH (7.22±0.31) and Mg (1.46±0.18 meq/100 g) were increased in case of application of AlP compared to the control, and the mean values of the other eight properties were decreased. The mean values of pH, OM, TN, K, Ca, Mg, P, S, Zn and Fe were 7.02±033, 1.27±0.13, 0.07±0.01%, 1.05±0.22 meq/100 g, 7.70±0.54 meq/100 g, 1.64±0.17 meq/100 g, 55.89±4.89 µg/g, 127.44±26.15 µg/g, 1.66±0.32 µg/g and 135.96±9.67 µg/g respectively after rotenone application which were higher than control values except for TN. These results suggested that the application of rotenone was suitable for use in fish ponds instead of the AlP. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that only potassium and iron showed significant differences in respect of control and treatments (AlP and rotenone) at the level of p