Soil, a connecting link between biotic and abiotic components of terrestrial ecosystem, receives different kinds of pollutants through various point and nonpoint sources. Among different sources of soil pollution, contaminated irrigation water is one of the most prominent sources affecting soils throughout the globe. The irrigation water (both surface and groundwater) is increasingly getting polluted with contaminants such as metal(loid)s due to various anthropogenic activities. The present study was conducted to analyze metal(loid) contents in agricultural soil samples (N = 24) collected from fields along the banks of rivers Beas and Sutlej flowing through Punjab state of India, using wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WDXRF) spectroscopy. The soil samples were also analyzed for their genotoxic potential using Allium cepa root chromosomal aberration assay. The rivers Beas and Sutlej are contaminated with municipal and industrial effluents in different parts of Punjab. The soil samples analyzed were found to have higher contents of arsenic, cobalt and chromium in comparison with the reference values given by various international agencies. Pollution assessment using different indices like index of geo-accumulation, enrichment factor and contamination factor revealed that the soil samples were highly polluted with cobalt and arsenic. The Allium cepa assay revealed that maximum genotoxicity was found in soil samples having higher contents of As and Co. Pearson’s correlation analysis revealed strong positive correlation between the different metal(loid)s which indicated common sources of these metal(loid)s. Therefore, efforts must be taken to reduce the levels of these metal(loid)s in these agricultural soils.

土壤是陆地生态系统生物和非生物成分之间的连接纽带，通过各种点源和非点源接收不同种类的污染物。在土壤污染的不同来源中，受污染的灌溉水是影响全球土壤的最突出来源之一。由于各种人为活动，灌溉水（地表水和地下水）越来越多地受到金属（液体）等污染物的污染。本研究旨在分析农业土壤样品（N = 24) 使用波长色散 X 射线荧光 (WDXRF) 光谱从流经印度旁遮普邦的 Beas 河和 Sutlej 河沿岸的田野收集。还使用洋葱根染色体畸变试验分析了土壤样品的遗传毒性潜力。Beas 和 Sutlej 河流被旁遮普省不同地区的市政和工业废水污染。与各国际机构提供的参考值相比，所分析的土壤样本的砷、钴和铬含量较高。使用地质积累指数、富集因子和污染因子等不同指标进行污染评估表明，土壤样品受到钴和砷的高度污染。将洋葱分析表明，在 As 和 Co 含量较高的土壤样品中发现了最大的遗传毒性。 Pearson 的相关分析表明，不同金属（液）之间存在很强的正相关性，表明这些金属（液）的常见来源。因此，必须努力降低这些农业土壤中这些金属（类）物质的含量。