title: Evaluation of the phytotoxicity of polycontaminated industrial effluents using the lettuce plant (Lactuca sativa) as a bioindicator.
abstract: Industrial wastewater containing heavy metals is generally decontaminated by physicochemical treatment consisting in insolublizing the contaminants and separating the two phases, water and sludge, by a physical process (filtration, settling or flotation). However, chemical precipitation does not usually remove the whole pollution load and the effluent discharged into the environment can be toxic even if it comes up to regulatory standards. To assess the impact of industrial effluent from 4 different surface treatment companies, we performed standardized bioassays using seeds of the lettuce Lactuca sativa. We measured the rate of germination, and the length and mass of the lettuce plantlet. The results were used to compare the overall toxicity of the different effluents: effluents containing copper and nickel had a much higher impact than those containing zinc or aluminum. In addition, germination tests conducted using synthetic solutions confirmed that mixtures of metals have higher toxicity than the sum of their separate constituents. These biological tests are cheap, easy to implement, reproducible and highlight the effects caused by effluent treated with the methods commonly applied in industry today. They could be routinely used to check the impact of industrial discharges, even when they meet regulatory requirements for the individual metals.
authors.affiliation: Université de Franche-Comté, Laboratoire Chrono-environnement, UMR 6249 UFC/CNRS usc INRA, Place Leclerc 25030 Besançon cedex, France.
authors.forename: Jérémie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Charles
authors.forename: Bertrand
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sancey
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Morin-Crini
authors.forename: Pierre-Marie
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Badot
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Degiorgi
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Trunfio
authors.forename: Grégorio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Crini
mesh_terms: D000535:Aluminum / Q000633:toxicity; D003300:Copper / Q000633:toxicity; D054750:Ecotoxicology / Q000379:methods; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D018525:Germination / Q000187:drug effects; D007220:Industrial Waste / Q000032:analysis*; D018545:Lactuca / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000633:toxicity*; D009532:Nickel / Q000633:toxicity; D012639:Seeds / Q000187:drug effects; D012722:Sewage / Q000737:chemistry; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000633:toxicity*; D015032:Zinc / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D007220:Industrial Waste; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012722:Sewage; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D003300:Copper; D009532:Nickel; D000535:Aluminum; D015032:Zinc