**4. Conclusions**

The present study pertained to exploring the potential ecological risks of heavy metals of textile effluents in soil samples in the vicinity of textile industries Ludhiana, Punjab (India). The metal bioaccumulation potential of some plant species grown in its environs was also explored. The Co content in untreated and treated effluent samples indicated the possibility of accumulation of cobalt in agricultural soil samples and plant

samples in the vicinity of textile industries, which is a serious matter of concern. The genotoxicity assay showed that treated as well as untreated effluents of both industries induced chromosomal aberrations and the percent aberrations in treated samples were significantly lower than untreated samples. The heavy metal bioaccumulation factor analysis showed that phytoremediation using wildly grown plants like *Ricinus communis* L., *Chenopodium album* L. and *Cannabis sativa* L., can be one of the environmentally friendly techniques for cleaning contaminated soil environs. Furthermore, Igeo and *CF* revealed that heavy metals showed no contamination to extreme contamination in the studied soil whereas Cdeg, PI, and PLI indicated extreme pollution. The results of ERi studies indicated that Co is the prime metal responsible for ecological threats in the study area. It is also emphasized that bioanalytical tools such as the *Allium cepa* root chromosomal aberration assay should be incorporated along with chemical analysis for evaluating the efficacy of industrial effluent treatment plants so as to indicate the harmful consequences in the biological systems.

**Supplementary Materials:** The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/2571-878 9/5/4/63/soilsystems5040063/s1, Table S1: Descriptions of the soil contamination indices used in the study, Table S2. Summary of reference doses (*RfD*) and slope factors (*SF*) of heavy metals.

**Author Contributions:** J.K.: She has carried out all experimental and has drafted/written the manuscript; S.S.B.: Helped in statistical analysis of data; S.A.B.: review and editing the manuscript; A.K.N.: Contributed for assessment of health risk; V.K.: Co-supervisor of the first author and helped in reviewing the whole manuscript; J.K.K.: Supervisor of the first author and helped in the drafting of manuscript/guidance for result compilation and finalizing the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was funded by University Potential for Excellence (UPE) as the first author is recipient of fellowship under this program.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors are thankful to the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi for providing financial assistance through various schemes like University Potential for Excellence (UPE), Centre with Potential for Excellence in Particular Area (CPEPA), Department of Science and Technology—Promotion of University Research and Scientific Excellence (DST-PURSE), Departmental Research Support-Special Assistance Program (DRS-SAP). Thanks are due to the Head of the Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences for providing laboratory facilities and the Central Facility, Emerging Life Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar for providing sophisticated instrumentation to carry out the present work.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
