Arsenic and fluoride effects on white clover (Trifollium repens) seeds early development

C. ALVAREZ GONCALVEZ; A. PÉREZ CARRERA; A. FERNÁNDEZ CIRELLI

Estocolmo

Congreso; 6 International Congress on Arsenic in the Environment; 2016

In several areas of the Chacopampean plain(Argentina) white clover cultures are irrigated with groundwater, where arenaturally present arsenic (As) and other inorganic trace elements like fluor (F).In this study we analyzed the effect of a combination of As and F on the germinationand growth parameters of white clover seeds. A non significant decrease in germination percentage regard to control was observed for all treatments. Nevertheless, asignificant negative effect on both, radicule and hypocotyle elongation wasobserved when seeds were exposed to As or As-F mixture. These preliminaryresults show that irrigation with F and As negatively affect seedling growthparameters. The present results denote that more investigation on the effect ofAs on forage plants and the interaction with several factor like other ionspresent in water is needed.