Comparative Phytoplankton studies of two reservoirs Punasa and Omkareshwar of Narmada River, MP, India

The River Narmada along with its tributaries is considered the lifeline of the State of Madhya Pradesh India. In the recent times the ecology of River Narmada is seriously affected by the domestic sewage discharge, effluents from different industries located near the banks and by dam formation. Phytoplankton is a fundamental component of aquatic ecosystem as they are major source of biologically important and labile organic carbon, located at the base of the food chain. The density and productivity of the phytoplankton are greatly influence by different physico-chemical characteristics of water. The present study was carried out for a period of one year from September 2011 to August 2012 to enumerate the various Physico-chemical parameters of Narmada River near Dams. Water samples were taken from sampling stations every month and were analyzed as per standard methods. In the present work in river Narmada forty-five genera of phytoplankton were recorded which comprised , twenty one genera belonged to Chlorophyceae, fourteen to Bacillariophyceae and ten to Cyanophyceae. The highest phytoplankton density (1700 units/lit) in the river Narmada, during present work, was found near Omkareshwar dam (station II) in April and lowest (293 units/lit) near Punasa Dam (station I) in August. The phytoplankton population showed two peak in summer and winter.