Abstract

ORTEGA-ORTEGA, Rafael Esteban; BELTRAN-HERRERA, , Javier Darío  and  MARRUGO-NEGRETE, José Luis. Accumulation of mercury (Hg) by arrow cane (Gynerium sagittatum) (Aubl) Beauv. in vitro. Rev. colomb. biotecnol [online]. 2011, vol.13, n.1, pp.33-41. ISSN 0123-3475.

In this in vitro study was evaluated the potential for accumulation of mercury (Hg) that can hold the cane arrow (Gynerium sagittatum) (Aubl) Beauv. as a viable alternative to be implemented for the rehabilitation of contaminated soils. This study was conducted at the Plant Biotechnology Laboratory, University of Sucre (9º 18' N, 75° 23' W). An experimental design was randomized block, an analysis of variance to compare means, Tukey test (p ≤ 0.05) to establish significant differences between the treatments, tests of normality (Kolmogorov-Smirnov) and homogeneity test Bartlett variance. The mercury analyses were performed on atomic absorption spectrophotometer Thermo Electron S4, a cell equipped with quartz windows, by the method of atomic absorption spectrometry with cold steam. The results show that the plant part that presents the greatest accumulation is the root with 55.98 mg g-1 HgT, followed by the stems, leaves 14.84 g g-1 HgT and these values are related to the degree of metal concentration in the culture medium. Furthermore, the accumulation of mercury in roots and stems increased with time. In conclusion, in vitro this plant accumulates due to the high Hg concentrations in their tissues without affecting the viability of plants.

Keywords : Phytoremediation; removal; heavy metals..