GENOTOXICITY ASSESSMENT OF THE GROUNDWATER QUALITY IN THE TEBOULBA REGION-TUNISIA USING THE VICIA FABA MICRONUCLEUS TEST

The groundwater of the Teboulba region in Tunisia suffers from overexploitation and from the degradation of its quality due to salt water intrusion from the Mediterranean sea as well as from the sebkha of Moknine. The actual groundwater quality was assessed using the Vicia faba root meristem micronucleus assay. The exposure of V. faba to irrigation water from 3 wells showed no spectacular changes in the root growth, fresh and dry matter and the membrane integrity compared to the control plants. However, the plants exhibited decreases in their mitotic index and high inductions of micronuclei and chromosomal aberrations including stickiness, bridges, fragments, vagrant chromosomes and laggards. Consequently, and despite the fact that the morphological parameters and the membrane integrity did not show noticeable variation, the micronucleus test has proved to be an early bioassay allowing the detection of the Teboulba groundwater genotoxicity, which may probably result from contamination of the groundwater by agricultural and industrial activities in/or surrounding the region.