In this study, Chakbandi drain’s composite water concentrations were collected from the selected sites in the month of April, May and June, 2016 and applied to fingerling’s of three Indian major carps i.e. Catla catla, Labeo rohita and Cirrhinus mrigala under laboratory conditions in glass aquaria. After determining the LC50, the sub-lethal dilutions i.e. 20%, 25%, 30%, 35% and 40% of drain water were tested for three month’s acute toxicity trial. All the water quality parameters i.e. DO, pH, temperature, conductivity, TDS, salinity, TSS, BOD and COD and concentration of selected heavy metals (Cu, Cr, Mn, Cd, Co, Ni, Sn, Hg, Zn and Pb) recorded from drain water were found above the permissible limits as described by FAO/ WHO. During current research, the DNA damage in fish peripheral erythrocytes was quantified by using different categories of damaged cells that were arbitrarily defined according to the tail length (size) of the comets. Maximum frequency of DNA damaged cells was recorded in erythrocytes of Cirrhinus mrigala when compared with Labeo rohita and Catla catla. Cirrhinus mrigala showed maximum average tail DNA length and average tail moment than Labeo rohita and Catla catla. Conclusively, DNA fragmentation as biomarker approach was found to be reliable for the assessment of genotoxicity and environmental pollution. Moreover, findings of this study are helpful as an early warning for environmental monitoring strategies.
