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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 4709

Anita Saini and D.M. Saxena; Effect of Organophosphorus Insecticides on the Growth of Tetrahymena pyriformis. Arch.Protistenk 131:143-152, 1986

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The effect of organophosphates viz. Fenthion, Parathion and methyl-Parathion was investigated on the cell population of the ciliate protozoan, Tetrahymena pyriformis (Syngen I). Fenthion and Parathion at the concentration of 1.0 and 5.0 ppm markedly inhibited the cell population growth of the organisms and percentage inhibition ranged from 22.4-77.4% and 38.88-85.57% respectively. A concentration above 5.0 ppm was lethal. With methyl-Parathion, inhibition range was 8-61.22% at concentration range of 0.1-10 ppm. At 10 ppm concentration methyl-Paration was lethal to the organisms. The order of toxicity was Fenthion > Parathion > methyl-Parathion. These organophosphorus insecticides also affected the cell surface area and volume. In the treated organisms more surface area/unit of cell volume was exposed of the environment during the growth cycle as compared to control. The cells recovered on being transferred to toxicant free medium after treatment for 3 days.