Assessing the phytoremediation potential of crop and grass plants for atrazine-spiked soils

Abstract

Pollution of soil and groundwater by atrazine has become an increasing environmental concern in the last decade. A phytoremediation test using plastic pots was conducted in order to assess the ability of several crops and grasses to remove atrazine from a soil of low permeability spiked with this herbicide. Four plant species were assessed for their ability to degrade or accumulate atrazine from soils: two grasses, i.e., ryegrass (Lolium perenne) and tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea), and two crops, i.e., barley (Hordeum vulgare) and maize (Zea mays). Three different doses of atrazine were used for the contamination of the pots: 2, 5 and 10 mg kg. 16 days after spiking, the initial amount of atrazine was reduced by 88.6-99.6% in planted pots, while a decrease of only 63.1-78.2% was found for the unplanted pots, thus showing the contribution of plants to soil decontamination. All the plant species were capable of accumulating atrazine and its N-dealkylated metabolites, i.e., deethylatrazine and deisopropylatrazine, in their tissues. Some toxic responses, such as biomass decreases and/or chlorosis, were observed in plants to a greater or lesser extent for initial soil doses of atrazine above 2 mg kg. Maize was the plant species with the highest ability to accumulate atrazine derivatives, reaching up to 38.4% of the initial atrazine added to the soil. Rhizosphere degradation/mineralization by microorganisms or plant enzymes, together with degradation inside the plants, have been proposed as the mechanisms that contributed to a higher extent than plant accumulation to explain the removal of atrazine from soils.

Effects of two ecological earthworm species on atrazine degradation performance and bacterial community structure in red soil

“…Pesticides have become an important part of modern agriculture nowadays, particularly for integrated pest management (IPM). As one of the most commonly applied triazinic herbicides, atrazine (2-chloro-4ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-1,3,5-triazine) leads to global problem of soil and water pollution owing to its massive usage, high chemical stability, apparent mobility, and significant toxicity to humans and ecosystems (Douglass et al, 2017;Sánchez et al, 2017). Although atrazine has been banned for future use in the European Union, it is allowed in many other countries including the United States and China, with an increasing annual consumption at a rate about 20% (Yue et al, 2017).…”

A Review on Recent Treatment Technology for Herbicide Atrazine in Contaminated Environment

“…Merini et al [95] remediated soil and water contaminated with atrazine by Lolium multiflorum, and found that the removal ability of Lolium multiflorum was 20% times higher than natural attenuation. Sanchez et al [96] investigated the phytoremediation of atrazine with four plants of ryegrass (Lolium perenne), tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea), barley (Hordeum vulgare), and maize (Zea mays). The results indicated that all of the plants had the capacity for degrading atrazine, and maize was the plant that most accumulated atrazine among the four plants.…”

Plantas como Ferramentas para a Remediação Ambiental: uma Revisão da Literatura

“…O crescimento das raízes da planta estimula a proliferação de microorganismos capazes de degradar contaminantes orgânicos na região da rizosfera (FAVAS et al, 2014). alfafa (Medicago sativa) (GARTLER et al, 2014) e milho (Z. mays) (SÁNCHEZ et al, 2017).…”