Potential Phytoremediation of Organic Compounds in soil by tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) and leek plants (Allium porrum)

GONZALEZ MARIANA; MIGLIORANZA KARINA SILVIA BEATRIZ; ONDARZA PAOLA MARIANA; AIZPUN JULIA ELENA; MORENO VICTOR JORGE

AEHS San Diego, CA USA

Conferencia; 18th Annual AEHS (Association for Environmental Health and Sciences) Meeting and West Coast Conference on Soils, Sediments and Water,; 2008

AEHS

Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are a class of compounds of particular concern in the environment due to their recalcitrance in natural solids, global transport, distribution, and toxicity. The impact of soil contaminants on human health and accumulation in food crops is relevant due to increased dietary exposure of consumers, being necessary reduce or minimize such pollution sources. Phytoremediation is an emerging technology based on the use of vegetation to remediate soil, water or sediments contaminated with organic and /or inorganic pollutants. Remediation can occur by direct plant uptake followed by transpiration or transformation within plant tissues, or by degradation of pollutants in the rhizosphere. Remediation of OCPs residues in soil using crops is a topic of outgoing research, since it’s considers the feasibility of produces commercialization. This works aimed to determine the phytoremediation potential of OCPs residues in soils by tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) and leek plants (Allium porrum). Plants were grown under field conditions, after four months, bulk soil, (BS) near root soil (NRS, soil within area of roots) and rhizosphere (RI) were sampled, and plants separated in roots, stem, leaves, and fruit. OCPs were GC-ECD quantified. Phytoremediation was evaluated on the basis of BS/NRS/RI relation, root bioconcentration factor (RBF), translocation factor (TF) and phytoextraction percentage (%FE). Results showed a differential remediation potential between species. Leek plants had higher RBF and TF leading to Ri/BS and NR/BS relation <1. In tomato plants those relations were >1, showing increased OCPs availability in soil. %FE of leek was similar for all OCP and increased with plant biomass. In tomato, soil concentration had a negative effect on %FE. However, the biomass effect leads to higher %FE on tomato with respect to leek. Although OCPs metabolism was suggested on RI of both species, it seems to be more important on tomato. The potential use of both species on intercropping systems as a tool for final soil remediation could be suggested.