Research Article
Arsenic Distribution in Shoots of the Halophyte Plant Species Atriplex atacamensis Growing in an Extreme Arid Mining Area from Northern Chile
| Delphine Vromman1, Bérengère Paternostre1, Margarita Briceño2, Carolina Teixeira-Cardoso1, Alejandra Flores-Bavestrello2, Nicolas Vanhecke1, Mahendra Kumar3, Juan-Pablo Martínez4 and Stanley Lutts1* | |
| 1Groupe de Recherche en Physiologie végétale, Earth and Life Institute-Agronomy, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium | |
| 2Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Arturo Prat, Av. Arturo Prat 2120 Iquique, Chile | |
| 3Science Research, Av. Costanera 4976, Iquique, Chile | |
| 4Instituto de Investigaciones Ageopecuarias (INIA – La Cruz), Chorillos n°86, La Cruz, Chile | |
| *Corresponding Author : | Stanley Lutts Groupe de Recherche en Physiologie végétale Earth and Life Institute-Agronomy, Université catholique de Louvain Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium E-mail: Stanley.lutts@uclouvain.be |
| Received March 30, 2016; Accepted April 19, 2016; Published April 25, 2016 | |
| Citation: Vromman D, Paternostre B, Briceño M, Teixeira-Cardoso C, Flores-Bavestrello A, et al. (2016) Arsenic Distribution in Shoots of the Halophyte Plant Species Atriplex atacamensis Growing in an Extreme Arid Mining Area from Northern Chile. J Bioremed Biodeg 7: 349. doi:10.4172/2155-6199.1000349 | |
| Copyright: © 2016 Vromman D, et al. This is an open-a ccess article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | |
Abstract
The oasis of Quillagua is an As contaminated area located in the North part of Chile along the Rio Loa. This study was undertaken in order to quantify As accumulation in water, soil and plants of the xerohalophyte species Atriplex atacamensis growing along the river. The water samples from the Rio Loa contained up to 2.5 mg L-1 arsenic and were highly saline (EC 14.1 mS cm-1). High concentration of B was associated to near-neutral pH values. The soil was typically corase – textured with a high proportion of sand. A mean As concentration of 220 mg Kg-1 was recorded in the soil and an important proportion was associated to iron oxide. Mature plants of Atriplex atacamensis were able to grow on this contaminated area and accumulated moderate amounts of As in the shoots. Arsenic concentration was higher in the leaves tan in the stems, but consistent amounts of As accumulated in the mature seeds and in surrounding bracts. The vegetative plant organs also accumulated high amounts of Na, confirming the halophytic nature of the plant species. Mature shoots are characterized by low amounts of P, probably as a consequence of As competition for P transporters, and by high amounts of S, probably resulting from phytochelatins and glutathione over synthesis.
