Abstract
Pentachlorophenol (PCP) oil-based wood preservative, was widely used in North America. Due to PCP’s dangerous nature, it was phased out of the industry in 2023. This study evaluates the effect of PCP on germination, shoot, and root parameters in crops such as kale, lettuce, and sunflower. There were seven treatments in this study, each with three replications: control, West Coast oil (WCO) the preservative carrier, and 0.25, 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 mL of 15410 ppm PCP treating solutions. The experiment was carried out in CYG germination pouch where root and shoot parameters were obtained by a root scanning apparatus equipped with WinRHIZOTM2000 software. Among the three crops, sunflower was more tolerant to PCP than kale and lettuce since it had higher shoot length (3.03 cm), surface area (1.84 cm2), root volume (22.107 cm3), length (7.25 cm), and surface area (3.054 cm3) with higher germination% of 90% in 2 mL treatment where kale and lettuce had 0% and 73.3% germination. Compared to the control, the other treatments had lower growth with 2 mL being the least. Root volume, length, surface area, shoot length, and surface area were 72.04%, 79.9%, 73.16%, 78.41%, and 69.12%, higher in control compared to the 2 mL treatment. Studies on the physiological and biochemical impacts of PCP on plants to find the root cause for the reduction in growth. The study provides a basis for assessing the environmental impact of new chemical preservatives, offer insights into their comparison with PCP, and guide future phytoremediation research.
Presenters
Koushika KumaresanStudent, Master's of Science in Agriculture, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Assessing Impacts in Diverse Ecosystems
KEYWORDS
ENVIRONMENT IMPACT ASSESSMENT, POLLUTANT, WOOD PRESERVATIVE, PENTACHLOROPHENOL, SOIL, MICROBES, PLANTS
