Heavy metal content in the particulate material of the basin air and effect on the germination of plant species

The samples will be collected in 3 monitoring stations located in the urban area of the city of Cuenca, for this, the method described in the unified text of Secondary Environmental Legislation of the Ministry of Environment of Ecuador (Tulsma) will be used, heavy metals (nickel, lead, manganese and zinc) will be characterized in the PM10 particulate material through the technique of atomic absorption spectroscopy, atomic absorption spectroscopy technique. Then, using seeds of 3 plant species (lactuca sativa, Brassica Oleracea Italica and Raphanus sativus) the phytotoxicity of the PM10 particulate material will be evaluated. The seeds will be exposed to different aqueous suspension dilutions of the PM10 (minimum five dilutions, taking as a dilution factor 0.5), for the evaluation of the phytotoxic effects, the inhibition in germination and inhibition or stimulation in the elongation of the hypoconotile radicle will be determined; Prior to the implementation of the test it will be verified that each seed lot has a germination percentage of more than 90%. The results obtained in this research will allow to know if the pollution levels that the city of Cuenca has are able to affect living beings, particularly plants.

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