ELEMENTAL ANALYSIS ON THE NEW SPECIES OF EARTHWORM FROM ORISSA

Earthworms are natural tillers of the soil and are known as the farmer's friends. The earthworm physiology is capable of combating pollution and pathogens and is therefore worth exploring. Although effect of pollution on earthworm immune system is being studied, elemental analysis of earthworm is not studied, how pollution affects the elements in earthworms, is not known. New species of earthworm was recorded from the state of Orissa, India. In this study we have tried to understand the elemental composition in a new species of earthworm, Perionyx shyamasreetus (P shyamasreetus) isolated and reported earlier, from the soil of Institute of Physics (IOP) campus, Bhubaneswar, Orissa India. We have performed fluorescence spectrophometry, UV-Vis studies, The Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) and Proton induced Xray Emission (PIXE) studies on earthworm from the wild to understand the elements that exists in it. We observed that the elements including Sulphur (S), Chlorine (Cl),Potassium (K), Calcium (Ca), Titanium (Ti),Vanadium (V),Iron (Fe), Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), Chromium (Cr)are present from the PIXE studies on the tissues of earthworm as trace elements and Fe as minor element while Carbon (C), Hydrogen (H), Nitrogen (N) and S as major element. FTIR spectroscopy and UVVis fluorescence studies reveal the presence of amino acids such as tryptophan, tyrosine and cysteine. The future scope of the study lies in understanding the elemental composition of earthworm in environmentally toxic soils including radioactivity prone areas of Orissa.