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Physiological response ofLemna species to herbicides and its probable use in toxicity testing

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Abstract

Herbicides such as atrazine, diuron, simazine and glyphosate are of growing concern with respect to ecotoxicity as they are often encountered in outdoor water samples. The present study evaluates the potential damage caused by these xenobiotics on physiology of the aquatic plantLemna sp., thereby proposing its use as a probable bioindicator. Comparative study of a panel of classical endpoints (frond number and relative growth rate) and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters (Fo, Fm, NPQ, Fv/Fm and ETRmax) revealed that diuron caused maximum inhibition of increase in frond number. This coincided with the toxicity ranking obtained on the basis of RGRarea and RGRFW i.e. diuron>atrazine>simazine>glyphosate. The chlorophyll (chl)a fluorescence parameters revealed a concentration dependent decline in maximal fluorescence (Fm) in the plants exposed to diuron, atrazine and simazine; this decline was negligible in presence of glyphosate. Besides, an EC50 of 0.009 (0.008–0.010) mg/L was recorded in case of Fv/Fm of the diuron exposedLemna sp.; furthermore, the glyphosate exposed plant demonstrated EC50s>16 mg/L. ETRmax ofLemna sp. significantly (p<0.001) declined in presence of diuron, atrazine and simazine, whereas glyphosate did not cause any significant (p>0.05) reduction. A steady concentration-dependent decline in chl a fluorescence parameters ofLemna sp. (specifically Fv/Fm and ETRmax) as compared to the classical endpoints, demonstrated their superiority and sensitivity in detection of herbicides in the aquatic bodies. This study emphasizes on the probable use of chlorophyll fluorescence ofLemna sp. as a tool or bioindicator in evaluation of herbicides.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Green Environmental Research Center, University of Incheon, Mireaguan, 7-46 Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-gu, 406-840, Incheon, Korea

    K. Suresh Kumar & Taejun Han

  2. Department of Biology, University of Incheon, 12-1 Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-gu, 406-840, Incheon, Korea

    Taejun Han

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  1. K. Suresh Kumar
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Correspondence to Taejun Han.

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Kumar, K.S., Han, T. Physiological response ofLemna species to herbicides and its probable use in toxicity testing. Toxicol. Environ. Health. Sci. 2, 39–49 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03216512

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