Diverse genotoxic agents, entering the aquatic environment through natural and anthropogenic events, pose serious threats to its biotic components. The present study involves the monitoring of water quality by assessing the genotoxic effects and physico-chemical parameters including heavy metals of 10 surface water samples collected from different locations of Buddha Nullah, a tributary of Sutlej flowing through Ludhiana, Punjab (India). Genotoxicity was evaluated following Allium cepa root chromosomal aberration assay and DNA nicking assay using plasmid (pBR322) whilst the metal (cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, nickel and zinc) analysis was conducted using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. All water samples collected from the study area had cobalt and lead content more than the permissible limits (0.04 and 0.01, respectively) recommended by the Bureau of Indian Standards and the World Health Organization. The samples also induced genotoxicity following both bioassays. The water samples collected from Gaunspur (GP), a site approx. 75.53 km upstream of the Sutlej-Buddha Nullah joining point, has shown the maximum genotoxic effect, i.e. 38.62% in terms of per cent total aberrant cells during A. cepa assay and 100% DNA damage during DNA nicking assay. The Pearson correlation indicated that genotoxicity had a significant positive correlation with the content of cobalt (at p ≤ 0.5). During cluster analysis, the samples from 10 sites formed four statistically significant clusters based on the level of pollution that was dependent on two factors like similarity in physico-chemical characteristics and source of pollution at a specific site.

通过自然和人为事件进入水生环境的多种遗传毒性剂对其生物成分构成严重威胁。本研究涉及通过评估遗传毒性作用和理化参数来监测水质，其中包括从Sutlej支流流经旁遮普邦卢迪亚纳（印度）的Sutlej支流Buddha Nullah的不同位置收集的10个地表水样品的重金属。遗传毒性评价以下洋葱根染色体畸变测定和DNA使用质粒切口测定（pBR322的），同时使用原子吸收分光光度计进行金属（镉，铬，钴，铜，铅，镍和锌）的分析。从研究区域收集的所有水样中的钴和铅含量均超过印度标准局和世界卫生组织建议的允许限值（分别为0.04和0.01）。在两种生物测定之后，样品还诱导了遗传毒性。从Gaunspur（GP）（大约一个地点）收集的水样。Sutlej-Buddha Nullah连接点上游75.53 km显示出最大的遗传毒性作用，即在A期间占总异常细胞百分比的38.62％。切帕DNA切口检测中100％DNA损伤。Pearson相关表明，基因毒性曾与钴的含量一显著正相关（在p  ≤0.5）。在聚类分析过程中，根据污染程度，来自10个地点的样本形成了四个具有统计意义的聚类，而污染程度取决于两个因素，例如物理化学特征的相似性和特定地点的污染源。