TY  - EJOU
AU  - RH, Adams  
AU  - Álvarez-Ovando, AL  
AU  - N, G Castañón  

TI  - Effect of hydrocarbon concentration of pasture production (<i>Brachiaria humidicola</i>) in Texistepec, Veracruz
T2  - Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany

PY  - 2015
VL  - 84
IS  - 1
SN  - 1851-5657

AB  - In this study, the relationship between the concentration of extra-heavy crude petroleum in a clayey material and the toxicity, field capacity, temperature, and growth of a tropical forage grass (<i>Brachiara humidicola</i>) was determined empirically. For this type of petroleum the acute toxicity (Microtox<sup>®</sup>) was slight (CE<sub>50</sub> = 63200 - 76400 mg/kg) even at high hydrocarbon concentrations (29279 mg/kg). Nonetheless, serious impacts were encountered in terms of an increase in soil temperature (+ 1.3 °C), reduction in field capacity (-10.7%) and reduction in aerial biomass (-97%). The relationship between hydrocarbon concentration and biomass resulted in a typical dose-response curve (r = 0.99), where a concentration of 2626 mg/kg of hydrocarbons corresponds to a maintenance of 90% biomass. Furthermore, during the duration of this study (one year) the biodegradation was proportional to the pasture biomass production (r = 0.997) indicating a synergistic relationship between the petroleum biodegrading microorganisms in the rhizosphere and the pasture.
KW  - Contamination
KW  -  Soil
KW  -  Dose-response
KW  -  Field capacity
KW  -  Phytoremediation

DO  - 10.32604/phyton.2015.84.222