EurAsian Journal of BioSciences Eurasia J Biosci 14, 5661-5667 (2020) Assessment of the trophic status at Al-Sabil River using the trophic indices in Al-Shinafiya district, Southern Iraq Khitam Abbas Marhoon 1, Eman Mohammed Hussain 2, Salwan Ali Abed 3, Salam Hussein Ewaid 4, Mudhafar A. Salim 5, Nadhir Al-Ansari 6 1,3 Environment Department, College of Science, University of Al-Qadisiyah, IRAQ 2 Biology Department, College of Science, University of Al-Qadisiyah, IRAQ 4 Technical Institute of Shatra, Southern Technical University, IRAQ 5 Arab Regional Center for World Heritage, Manama, BAHRAIN. 6 Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, SWEDEN *Corresponding author: [email protected] ; [email protected] Abstract The current study was conducted to determine the quality of the water of Al- Sabil River in Al-Shinafiya district, Province of Al- Diwaniyah, for the period from September 2018 to August 2019. Three sites were selected along the river, a quantitative and qualitative study of the diatoms as well as its indices to assess the quality of water in the river, such as trophic diatom Index (TDI), Trophic State Index (TSI), Diatomic Index (DI), and General Diatoms Index (GDI). The current study was diagnosed about 136 species of diatoms at three sites, where the central diatoms was 12 species while the pannals diatoms reached 124 species, and recorded total numbers of diatoms (35453.8, 29447.2 and 36504.76) cell*310/L, and rates (2954.48, 2453.93 and 3042.06) cells*310/L for the three locations respectively, as shown by the results of the trophic diatom Index(TDI) values ranged from (23.33 to 55.54) and the values of Trophic State Index (TSI) ranged from (0.07 to 0.81) and the Diatomic Index (DI) values ranged from (9.08 to 16.20) and the values of the General Diatoms Index (GDI) ranged from (2.23 to 3.17). It was noted that the water quality was Oligotrophic to Mesotrophic based on TDI and TSI, while its moderate to Good based on DI and GDI, and concluded that the higher the evidence values indicated that the water quality tended to be good, free or low pollution, suitable for living well, and that water was few nutrients, while its low values indicated the deterioration of the water quality in the river. Keywords: trophic indices, trophic status, diatomic index, Al-Sabil River Marhoon KA, Hussain EM, Abed SA, Ewaid SH, Salim MA, Al-Ansari N (2020) Assessment of the trophic status at Al-Sabil River using the trophic indices in Al-Shinafiya district, Southern Iraq. Eurasia J Biosci 14: 5661-5667. © 2020 Marhoon et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. INTRODUCTION been used as bio-indicators of the organic pollution in aquatic-ecosystems and have been used to determine Phytoplankton has many properties that have made environmental conditions, including algae blooms. them considered as biological indicators to determine Daitoms are also common in all the world’s water, they changes in the aquatic environment and that the are sensitive to many environmental variables, including changes can be used in the biological assessment light, heat, flow, oxygen content in water pH pollutants, programs (Wanomar, 2010) as Phytoplankton, including and is an excellent indicator of food enrichment, organic diatoms are important factors affecting water quality, as pollution and climate change (Teresa et al., 2013; bio-indices, and beginning to play an essential role in Stevenson and John, 2003). For example, nitzschia in environmental reports because they are a preliminary water indicates that water is organically pollution, while indicator of the environment (Niemejeri and Groot, gomphonema lagenulala indicates that the water quality 2007). The use of bio-water quality assessment is moderate (lylahakringkra and Yuwadee, 2011). methods helps to detect long-term environmental impacts because this type of assessment has the potential to last longer (Hutorowic etal., 2011). Received: November 2019 Algae including daitoms used to assess conditions in Accepted: April 2020 the water habitats in all countries of the world and have Printed: November 2020 5661 EurAsian Journal of BioSciences 14: 5661-5667 (2020) Marhoon et al. Diatoms has a good ability to determine water quality 2- Trophic indices and detect pollution in the water stream. (Martin etal., A- Trophic diatom index (TDI): Calculated based on 2010 and Torrisi etal., 2010) And its can be adopted in the following equation he outlined (Kelly and Whitton, the assessment of public sites and water quality 1995): assessment in many locations are excellent or good or ∑ 퐴푗푉푗푆푗 푇퐷퐼 = × 25 − 25 (1) poor (Dell’Uomo and Torrisi, 2009). Many of these ∑ 퐴 푉 studies have been carried out to assess water quality 푗 푗 where: based on the evidence of phytoplankton specially 퐴 = species proportion in the sample. diatoms, such as (Leelahakriengkrai and 푗 푆 = sensitivity species to nutrients about (1-5) Peerapornpisal, 2010; Offem etal., 2011; Suphan et al., 푗 2012; Prasad and Siddaraju, 2012; Yung et al., 2012; extracted from special scales Jefferson et al., 2015; Alghanimy, 2015; AL-Hamdawe, 푉푗 = species index value (1-3). Extracted from special 2016; Ali et al, 2017; AL- Hassany, 2018; El-Serehy et tables al., 2018). B-Diatomic Index: the equation was adopted for the DI manual (Descy,1979), which is as follows: MATERIALS AND METHODS ∑ 퐴푗퐼푗푉푗 퐷퐼 = (2) 1- Study area ∑ 퐴푗 푉 푗 Al- Sabil river, is one of two branches of the Kufa where: River, namely the Al-Atshan River and Al- Sabil River, is 퐴푗 = relative species abundance. located in the center of Al-Shinafiya district of Al- 퐼푗 = value of type sensitivity to pollution. Extracted Diwaniyah province, and represents the main branch Al- from special tables Sabil of the Euphrates River. Al-Sabil River is 푉푗 = index value (species). characterized by high salinity because of 15 drains The value of DI ranges from (1-5) and according to a discharged in it at Al- Shinafiya, as well as the Sewage special table to interpret the result. flows in the area of Ghamas and AL-Shamiyia district. In C- Generic Diatom Index (GDI): The equation addition, the entry of waste water and surface flows of described by Lecointe et al. (2003) was adopted: Al-Sabil river and Al-Atshan river cause further ∑ 퐴푗푆푗푉푗 deterioration of the environmental situation of the 퐺퐷퐼 = × 4 (3) ∑ 퐴 푉푗 푗 Euphrates River, particularly at AL-Shinafiya and where: beyond (Al-Thamiry et al., 2013). 퐴푗 = abundance of species. A-Study sites 푆푗 = sensitivity species to nutrients (1-5) extracted The study sites are characterized by population from special tables activity and the large presence of fishermen. The lack of 푉푗 = species index value (1-3). Extracted from special aquatic plants, except P. australis on both sides of the tables. river, has been observed at low intensity. Three sites D- Trophic State Index (TSI): The equation described were selected on Al-Sabil River to collect study samples. from Nygaard (1949) used the following: 1-The first site S1: located to the north of the river Total number of central diatoms (upstream) at the entry of the river to Al-Shinafiya Diatoms = (4) district. Total number of pannals diatoms 2- The second site S2: located in the middle of the The values of the index range from (0.0-0.3) was river (midstream) at the Bridge of Al-Shinafiya. oligotrophic while range from (0.0-1.75) was Eutrophic. 3- The third site S3: located to the south of the river 3- Statistical analysis (downstream) at its exit point from the area of Al- The results were performed on the results to find the Shinafiya. (Fig.7). least significant difference (LSD using the Statistical B- Sampling Package for the Social Sciences) (SPSS 2000) at a Water samples were collected monthly from probability level (P<0.05) September 2018 to August 2019 from the three sites. Samples for the qualitative study were collected using RESULTS AND DISCUSSION the phytoplankton –net(20 µ) from the center of the river Phytoplankton (Qualitative and Quantitative by a plastic bottle size 5 liter and a few drops of Lugol’s study) solution were added, while the quantitative study were In current study, 136 species of diatoms were collected using a plastic package of 1 liter size and diagnosed in Al-Sabil River at three sites, where the added (1 ml) of Logal’s solution (Vollenweider, 1974) number of central diatoms was 12 species while the and deposited for several days, following the method pannals diatoms reached 124 species. Since the total described by Hadi (1988). species of diatoms diagnosed was ( 75, 60, 66) species 5662 EurAsian Journal of BioSciences 14: 5661-5667 (2020) Marhoon et al. Fig. 1. Total diatoms species at study sites Fig. 5. Number of pannals diatoms species at study sites Fig. 2. Percentages of total diatoms species at study sites Fig. 6. Percentages of pannals diatoms species at study sites Some species of diatoms was dominant in terms of their number and presence in all sites, namely “C. Kuetzingana, C. meneghinana, C. ocellatia, A. affins, C. pediculus, C. placentula, C. placentula Var.lineata, C. affinis, Diatoma elongatum, and Diatoma. Vulgare”. This dominance is due to the wide tolerance of these species to various environmental factors of temperature, nutrient deficiency, availability of dissolve oxygen and an aquatic plants density that provide suitable conditions for algae (Mohammed, 2007). These results approached to AL- Fig. 3. Number of central diatoms species at study sites Hassany (2018) at Tigris river. For quantitative study, the results showed that the total numbers of diatoms was (35453.8, 29447.2 and 36504.76) cell*310/L, and rates (2954.48, 2453.93 and 3042.06) cells*310/L for the three sites, respectively.