Bioassays of soils

Forge, T.A., M.L. Berrow, J.J. Darbyshire, and A. Warren. 1993. Protozoan bioassays of soil amended with sewage sludge and heavy metals, using the common soil ciliate Colpoda steinii. Biol. Fertil. Soils 16 282-286. 

Bioassay of Soils Collected After Mungbean Harvest The bioassay of mungbean soils (Fig. 10) supports the experiments with mungbean plants grown in rrutturity (Figs. 5 and 6) with the exception of the lack of significant allelopathic activity shown by the 1-week soil. The control soil (plot 40,41) showed no inhibitory or stimulatory activity. The soil samples taken 4... 

Sawyer TW, Weiss MT, D Agostino PA, et al. 1992. Bioassay of organophosphate nerve agents in soil using neuronal tissue cultures. J Appl Toxicol 12(1) 1-6. 

Vidic T, Lah B, Berden-Zrimec M, Marinsek-Logar R (2008) Bioassays for evaluating the water-extractable genotoxic and toxic potential of soils polluted by metal smelters. Environ Toxicol 24 472 183... 

Chen L, Yu C, Shen C, Zhang C, Liu L, Shen K, Tang X, Chen Y (2010) Study on adverse impact of e-waste disassembly on surface sediment in East China by chemical analysis and bioassays. J Soils Sediments 10(3) 359-367. doi 10.1007/sll368-009-0176-8... 

Chronic-Duration Exposure and Cancer. No studies were located regarding chronic inhalation exposure to 1,2-diphenylhydrazine in humans or animals. As discussed for acute-and intermediate-duration exposure, 1,2-diphenylhydrazine is a solid With a low vapor pressure at ambient temperature, which makes inhalation exposure this chemical in the vapor state unlikely. However, the possibility of inhalation exposure to dusts of 1,2-diphenylhydrazine either free or adsorbed to soil is conceivable. Therefore, chronic-duration studies of inhalation exposure to dusts of 1,2-diphenylhydrazine could be designed to provide information on possible toxic effects and exposure levels that cause effects. The NCI (1978) bioassay of 1,2-diphenylhydrazine provides the only sufficient chronic oral toxicity data for this chemical. This study was not, however, subjected to the peer review process used for current NTP bioassays, and it inadequately evaluated nonneoplastic effects. Additional studies would be particularly useful for corroborating and more fully characterizing... 

Diffusion Experiment Results of the diffusion experiment are shown in Table VI. One or more cm of untreated soil covering 20 g of soil treated with 100 ppm c DDT was very effective in preventing toxic concentrations of DDT from diffusing into water for one year. If any DDT did diffuse through the soil into water, the concentration was not sufficiently high to affect the survival or reproduction of daphnids. A 60% reproductive impairment has been reported when daphnids were exposed to 100 ng/L DDT W. Therefore, on the basis of the daphnid bioassay, the concentration of DDT in water over the 1 cm of soil was at or below 100 ng/L. On the other hand, where untreated soil did not cover the DDT layer, daphnids never survived more than 7 days. This result is very similar to those from the microecosystem experiment. The 1-ml water samples indicated a total DDT concentration of 10 to 20 ppb. In addition, TLC analysis of treated soil extracts after one year showed the expected conversion of DDT to DDD, but only when covered by 1 or more cm of soil. For the uncovered soil, 87% of the radioactivity was DDT. Apparently, 1 cm of soil was sufficient to produce the anaerobic conditions known to be necessary for conversion of DDT to DDD (j 2). 

Two bioassays are employed to evaluate the effect of samples on terrestrial life forms. For gas samples, the plant stress ethylene test is presently recommended. This test is based on the well-known plant response to environmental stress release of elevated levels of ethylene (under normal conditions plants produce low levels of ethylene). The test is designed to expose plants to various levels of gaseous effluents under controlled conditions. The ethylene released during a set time period is then measured by gas chromatography to determine toxicity of the effluent. For liquid and solid samples, a soil microcosm test is employed. The sample is introduced on the surface of a 5 cm diameter by 5 cm deep plug of soil obtained from a representative ecosystem. Evolution of carbon dioxide, transport of calcium, and dissolved oxygen content of the leachate are the primary quantifying parameters. 

The aqueous extracts of roots and leaves, the leachates of aerial parts, aqueous extracts of soils and in some cases organics extracts of leaves, the essential oils, and Isolated pure compounds were tested for their effects upon germination and growth of several test species from the same area. Likewise, bioassays of simultaneous germination were carried out with some of the available seeds. 

B) A 200-g sample of soil was loosely packed in a 24 x 40 cm chromatography colunm and sequentially extracted with redistilled organic solvents at room temperature and a flow rate of 0.5 mL per minute in the following order 200 mL hexane 100 mL hexane + 100 mL methylene chloride 200 mL methylene chloride 100 mL methylene chloride + 100 mL ethyl acetate 200 mL ethyl acetate 100 mL ethyl acetate +100 mL methyl alcohol 200 mL methyl alcohol 100 mL methyl alcohol + 100 mL triply distilled water 800 mL triply distilled water. Each extract was taken to dryness over nitrogen gas except the aqueous one, which was evaporated with a rotary evaporator at 45 °C. Each residue was weighed and bioassayed. 

Table I. Wheat Bioassay Of Soxhlet Extracts of Wheat Soil Collected April 9,1985...

Table IV. Wheat Bioassay Of (A) Fractions Of Steam Distillates of Altus, OK and (B) Solvent Extracts of El Reno, OK Wheat Soil...

Brohon, B., and Gourdon, R. (2000) Influence of soil microbial activity level on the determination of contaminated soil toxicity using Lumistox and MetPlate bioassays, Soil Biology and Biochemistry 32,... 

Masfaraud, J.F., Beaunoir, V., Perrodin, Y., Thybaud, E., Savanne, D. and Ferard, J.F. (1999) Assessment of soil contamination and ecotoxicity by the use of an ascending flow percolation - Bioassay approach, in J. Mehu et al. (Eds.), Waste Stabilization and Environment 99, Villeurbanne, France, 13-16 April 1999, Proceedings of poster presentation, pp. 198-200. 

Since the actual or potential phytotoxicity of a phenolic acid is determined by its physical and chemical properties and the susceptibility of the plant process involved, the actual or potential phytotoxicity of a given phenolic acid is best determined in nutrient culture in the absence of soil processes. The phytotoxicity observed in soil systems represents a realized or observed phytotoxicity, not the actual phytotoxicity, of a given phenolic acid. For example, the actual relative phytotoxicities (or potencies) for cucumber seedling leaf expansion were 1 for ferulic acid, 0.86 for p-coumaric acid, 0.74 for vanillic acid, 0.68 for sinapic acid, 0.67 for syringic acid, 0.65 for caffeic acid, 0.5 for p-hydroxybenzoic acid and 0.35 for protocatechuic acid in a pH 5.8 nutrient culture.5 In Portsmouth Bt-horizon soil (Typic Umbraquaalts, fine loamy, mixed, thermic pH 5.2), they were 1, 0.67, 0.67, 0.7, 0.59, 0.38, 0.35, and 0.13, respectively.19 The differences in phytotoxicity of the individual phenolic acids for nutrient culture and Portsmouth soil bioassays were due to various soil processes listed in the next paragraph and reduced contact (e.g., distribution and movement)36 of phenolic acids with roots in soils. 

Blum, U., Gerig, T. M., Worsham, A. D., Holappa, L. D., and King, L. D. 1992. Allelopathic activity in wheat-conventional and wheat-no-till soils development of soil extract bioassays. J. Chem. Ecol. 18, 2191-2221... 

Inderjit and Dakshini, K. M. M. 1999. Bioassays for allelopathy interactions of soil organic and inorganic constituents. In Inderjit, Dakshini, K. M. M., and Foy, C. L. (Eds.), Principles and Practices in Plant Ecology — Allelochemical Interactions. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 35-42... 

Nelson, E. B. and Craft, C. M. 1992. A miniaturized and rapid bioassay for the selection of soil bacteria suppressive to Pythium blight of turf grasses. Phytopathology 82, 206-210... 

Selim, S. A., O Neal, S. W., Ross, M. A., and Lembi, C. A. 1989. Bioassay of photosynthetic inhibitors in water and aqueous soil extracts with Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum). Weed Sci. 37, 810-814... 

In the practice of soil and sediment analysis, bioassays often are used in conjunction with chemical analysis and ecological field observations. This approach, named the TRIAD approach, was first introduced for sediment analysis by Chapman (1986) and is becoming more common for contaminated land assessment (Jensen and Mesman 2006). Such multimetric methods allow for reduction of uncertainties in risk assessment as evaluation is based on several independent lines of evidence (Chapman et al. 2002). 

The diverse nature of soil contamination means that it is currently not possible to recommend a single assay for soil quality assessments in all circumstances. A suite of assays is likely to be the most useful approach. Within the suite, complementary methods applicable for a range of contaminants at different concentration levels and in a range of soils are needed. These include bioassay/biomarker/ biosensor methods that ... 

The focus of the pilot was on the development of a practical framework for the application of biological test methods in a Triad approach. Consequently, the selection of tools for the assessment was based on scientific and pragmatic arguments, for instance by focusing on readily available techniques for determination of the concentration of contaminants in pore water and readily available biological tests such as simple bioassays and the monitoring of soil organisms. 

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