Influence of oil on the grain culture of S.cereale (L)
Abstract
The toxic effect of oil on a gramineae species – rye S. cereale L. has been studied. When introducing oil into soils it has been found that the soil fraction with the particle size being 0.05 -0.45 mm absorbs the oil least of all. Here , the distribution of the estimated polyaromatic hydrocarbons is directly dependent on the portion of the size fractions of the soi ls under study. During the experiments the oil loss from the soils amounts to ~17 %, which is due to the possible oil decompo sition by the plant roots and partial evaporation of oil from the soil surface. With the oil content being 9 %, the young rye shoots are suppressed, but the biomass is quite viable, which is evidenced by IR spectroscopy and morphological indicators. Howeve r, chromosome disturbances have been observed as a result of cytogenetic studies of the root system of rye, which are associated, among other things, with the effect of the soil particle agglutination around the root system. Thi s may disturb the chloroplas t motionin the cells, giving rise to anomalies in cell structures. Thus, the conducted experiments can indicate that rye can be applied for the phytoremediation of soils polluted by oil spills.
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Introduction
Three groups of environmental factors are known to interact under the conditions of oil pollution, namely: 1) the unique complexity of oil composition, with the latter undergoing constant changes; 2) the heterogeneity of the composition and structure of any ecosystem which is in the process of constant development; 3) the diversity and variability of external factors influencing the ecosystem: temperature, pressure, humidity, conditions of the atmosphere and hydrosphere etc. (Pikovsky, 1993). Apparently, the consequences of the oil pollution of the ecosystem must be estimated and the methods of eliminating the consequences must be chosen taking into account a specific combination of these three groups of factors. A vast majority of emergency oil spills caused considerable and, in many respects, irreversible damages to ecosystems. The oil pollution results in various changes in the functioning of natural ecosystems and in land degradation. This, in its turn, hinders the growth and development of plants (Adam, Duncan, 1999), which is, first of all, related to the phytotoxic action of the pollutant (Ammosov, Trofimov, Sukhanov, 1999). Using the cytogenetic characteristics of plants as the biomarkers of oil pollutions allows one to obtain the information which cannot, essentially, be obtained by analyzing the levels of the pollutant content in the environment or in an organism. The sensitivity of biological test-systems is recognized to be higher in most cases than that of chemico-analytical methods (Skrobek et al., 2006, Kitano, 2002). There is a long list of plant test-organisms (Inckot, Santos, De Souza, Bona, 2011, US Environmental Protection Agency, 2002.). When estimating the mutagenic danger of the environment with the long history of chemical pollution, allochtonic species are more preferably taken to be the controls. Most of the investigations on estimating the mutagenic effect of oil pollution are carried out using terrigenous plants, mainly, the family Gramineae (McGill and Cole, 1981, Golikov, Sanotsky, Tiunov, 1986, SanMiguel et al., 1996, Tikhonov et al., 1996). The aim of the present work is to study the toxic action of oil on one of the grain crop species, rye S. cereale L. using a simulation experiment.
Conclusion
1. The results of determining the oil content in soil fractions of different size show that the fraction with finer particles has the lowest concentration of the oil components (from 0, 05 to 0.45 mm).
2. Inallthecasesitisfoundthatattheendoftheexperimentsongrowingplants, the total decrease of the oil content is equal to ~17 %, which is attributed both to the possible decomposition of oil by plant roots and to the partial evaporation of oil from the soil surface.
3. The distribution of some detectable polyaromatic hydrocarbons is directly dependent on the portion of the size fraction of the studied soils.
4. The morphological studies of the plant top part show that despite the complete survival of the rye shoots, when introducing 9 % of oil, the shoot inhibition is observed while, when introducing 3 and 6 % of oil, almost no inhibition is found and the samples are hardly different from the control.
5. The IR-spectroscopy studies of the plant material show that the structure of the solid fragments of biomass, when introducing 3% oil, hardly differs from the control samples, with slight changes in the spectral lines being observed with the 6 and 9 % oil content. Here, new vibration lines are found to appear and the intensity of the present spectral lines is changed. In cytogenetic studies of the root system of rye shoots, chromosome disturbances are observed which are also associated with the effect of soil particle agglutination around the root system. This can disturb the motion of chloroplasts in the cells, resulting in the development of anomalies in the cell structures.
