Resumen

LARENAS PARADA, Giovanna  y  DE VIANA, Marta L. Germination and survival of Tithonia tubaeformis (Asteraceae) in soils containing petroleum hydrocarbon contaminants. Ecol. austral [online]. 2005, vol.15, n.2, pp.177-181. ISSN 1667-782X.

Phytoremediation is an innovated technique, cheaper than traditional methods commonly used to decontaminate polluted soils. The objective of this work is to study the germination of T. tubaeformis and its survival responses to petroleum hydrocarbons. We carried out a bioassay using contaminated soil following a randomized factorial design and analyzing contaminants at three different concentrations (gas-oil: 0, 1.96% and 3.93%, car fuel-oil: 0, 2.75% and 5.5%) and nutrients conditions (with and without Rorison nutrient solution), with four replicates per treatment. HTP concentrations were assessed at the beginning and end of the experiment with the ASTM D1178 modified method. Significant differences were obtained in the percentage of germination and germination speed. No differences were found in the interaction nutrients*treatments for the percentages of germination and germination speed. There were no differences in the germination and germination speed in the control group and the fuel oil one (lowest concentration). Gas-oil at the lowest concentration allowed cotyledon emergence, while at the highest resulted in all seeds mortality. The concentration of TPH in the soil at the beginning and end of the experiment showed a greater reduction in the gas-oil treatments (64%) than in the fuel-oil ones (51%). We suggest further studies in contaminated open fields, though, being an alien species, precautions should be taken.

Palabras clave : Gas-oil; Used car oil; Tolerance; Phytoremediation; Alien plant.

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