Comparison of Ground Water Bacterial Cell Sizes from the Agricultural, Domestic and Industrial Areas of Mysore District, Karnataka State, India

A two-year study on temporal variations in the ground water heterotrophic bacterial cell sizes of free living bacteria (FLB) and particle bound bacteria (PBB) from the agricultural, domestic and industrial areas was carried out from February 2005 to January 2007. The overall mean cell length of FLB and PBB was similar in all the ground water studied. However, the season wise grouped data revealed significant seasonal changes in cell length of FLB and PBB, as smaller bacteria were noticed during rainy season in the ground water in agricultural area in both the years, and only in the second year of study in domestic and industrial areas. Generally, it was noticed that there were summer maximum and rainy minimum values of the cell length of PBB in the ground water in agricultural, domestic and industrial areas in the second year of study. The Pearson's correlations showed the presence of 8 (in agricultural area), 5 (in domestic) and 3 (in industrial) significant correlations with environmental (Physico-chemical) parameters, respectively. The regression analysis revealed that as much as 12% of variation in the mean length of FLB was due to NO3 (+) in agricultural area and 9% due to total solids (+) in domestic area. However, the 8 % variation in bacterial cell size of FLB was due to Mg (+) in industrial area. Whereas, 13 % variation in mean length of PBB was due to SO4 (+) in agricultural area and 10% due to total anions of strong acid (TASA) (+) in domestic area. Furthermore, 10 % of variation was due to PO4 (+) in industrial area. Thus, the statistical analysis revealed that several environmental variables were potentially responsible for some of the temporal variations in aquatic heterotrophic bacterial cell size, suggesting probably the stressed environment in these ecosystems.

A two-year study on temporal variations in the ground water heterotrophic bacterial cell sizes of free living bacteria （FLB） and particle bound bacteria （PBB） from the agricultural, domestic and industrial areas was carried out from February 2005 to January 2007. The overall mean cell length of FLB and PBB was similar in all the ground water studied. However, the season wise grouped data revealed significant seasonal changes in cell length of FLB and PBB, as smaller bacteria were noticed during rainy season in the ground water in agricultural area in both the years, and only in the second year of study in domestic and industrial areas. Generally, it was noticed that there were summer maximum and rainy minimum values of the cell length of PBB in the ground water in agricultural, domestic and industrial areas in the second year of study. The Pearson＇s correlations showed the presence of 8 （in agricultural area）, 5 （in domestic） and 3 （in industrial） significant correlations with environmental （Physico-chemical） parameters, respectively. The regression analysis revealed that as much as 12% of variation in the mean length of FLB was due to NO3 （＋） in agricultural area and 9% due to total solids （＋） in domestic area. However, the 8 % variation in bacterial cell size of FLB was due to Mg （＋） in industrial area. Whereas, 13 % variation in mean length of PBB was due to SO4 （＋） in agricultural area and 10% due to total anions of strong acid （TASA） （＋） in domestic area. Furthermore, 10 % of variation was due to PO4 （＋） in industrial area. Thus, the statistical analysis revealed that several environmental variables were potentially responsible for some of the temporal variations in aquatic heterotrophic bacterial cell size, suggesting probably the stressed environment in these ecosystems. Fig 1, Tab 6, Ref 30