Impact of Oil Field Effluent on Soil Health and Physiological Growth in Small Tea Farms of Shalmari OCS-1, Dibrugarh, Assam

Aims: The investigation was undertaken to study the impact of spillage in the tea plantations in nearby oil fields with probable effect on the soil health and the growth of the tea crop with the following objectives to study the released from the oil fields on the physiology of tea crop and to study the impact of effluent on soil physicochemical in tea plants.

Study Design: Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for two factorial RBD was carried out using OPSTAT.

Place and Duration of Study: The field study was carried out in Shalmari No. 1 near the Tingkhong tea estate of Dibrugarh. The laboratory works were carried out in the Department of Tea Husbandry & Technology and Department of Soil Science, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Assam, between March’19 to February’20.

Methodology: Two tea-growing seasons viz. Rainflush and autumn flush were considered. Samples were collected in four distances at an interval of 0-21 m, 21-42 m, and 42-63 m and beyond 63m (control site). A total of 24 plant samples was collected for both the season with respect to 4 distance and 3 replication. In the case of soil samples, a total of 24 soil samples were collected for both the season.

Results: Plant parameters like water saturation deficit increased in crude oil affected site while decreased the relative turgidity, stomatal count, in the tea plants grown in the contaminated site. Bulk density, pH, organic carbon, and available nutrients in the contaminated site of the soils was increased. However, porosity, hydraulic conductivity and electrical conductivity were low in the contaminated area.

Conclusion: The study reveals oil effluent spillage as a major factor for plant growth and soil quality deterioration and the impact was more pronounced in the vicinity of the drilling point adversely affecting plant physiological, soil physico-chemical parameters.