Relative toxicity of two ammonium compounds found in the waste of fertilizer plants

Abstract

Bioassays of the two ammonium compounds namely ammonium chloride and ammonium sulphate were determined with particular reference to their safe permissible levels and their comparative toxicity to the freshwater barb, Barbus ambassis. The medium tolerance limits (LC50) were calculated for 24 and 48-h exposure of fish to various concentrations of the ammonium compounds. Using the 48-h LC50 values the safe concentrations for the two compounds were determined. The safe concentrations for ammonium chloride and ammonium sulphate were 29.49 ppm and 54.64 ppm respectively. There was a wide variation between the toxicities of the two compounds indicating that ammonium chloride is relatively more toxic than ammonium sulphate