Quantification of Photosynthetic Pigments of Plants, Water and Sediment Samples in Chirackal and Kattiparambu of Ernakulam District, Kerala

Aims: The present study intended to investigate the pigment composition of four selected mangrove plants viz., Avicennia officinalis, Excoecaria agallocha, Rhizophora mucranata and Sonnaratia alba and water and sediment samples. And to quantify the concentration of various pigments found in the above samples.

Place and Duration of Study: The samples were collected from the mangrove creeks of Chirackal and Kattiparambu of Ernakulam district, Kerala. Duration of the study was from 2013 December to 2015 December.

Methodology: The estimation of the total pigments, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoid concentration of the biotic samples, water and sediments were done using standard methods in Spectrophotometer.

Results: Plants showed high pigment concentration compared to water and sediments. High chlorophyll ‘a’ (2 mg/g), chlorophyll ‘b’ (0.8 mg/g) and total chlorophyll (2.74 mg/g) were observed in Excoecaria agallocha of Kattiparambu and carotenoids (0.72 mg/g) observed in Rhizophora mucranata, Chirackal. In sediment samples, high chlorophyll ‘a’ (0.85 mg/g), total chlorophylls (1.31 mg/g) and carotenoids (0.725 mg/g) were observed in Chirackal area and chlorophyll ‘b’ (0.595 mg/g) obtained in Kattiparambu. Chlorophyll ‘b’ (0.6 mg/g) and carotenoids (0.86 mg/g) were reported high in the water samples of Kattiparambu region and chlorophyll ‘a’ (0.61 mg/g) and total chlorophylls (0.86 mg/g) in Chirackal. In Pearson’s correlation coefficient studies, the content of KEA-chlorophyll was found to have a strong positive correlation among other mangrove species and some sediment samples.

Conclusion: Seasonal changes and local geological conditions are the major factors for variations in pigment concentrations in plants, water and sediment samples. Sediment pigments proved to be good indicators of lake-ecosystem response to climate change and long-term variability in the photo trophic community.