Absorción y bioacumulación de metales pesados de tres especies vegetales introducidas en la amazonia ecuatoriana en relaves mineros.

Abstract

The objective of the current research was to determine the absorption and bioaccumulation of heavy metals of three plant species introduced into the Ecuadorian Amazon in mine tailings. The research work developed a descriptive design due to three types of treatments were studied, giving as result a large data base and correlation because the interaction of the variables that determined the evolution of the study phenomenon. It established the concentration of the heavy metals that are present in the mine tailings, through the Atomic Absorption Analysis; being selected 10 metals of greater interest by means of the Pareto Diagram for further treatment with the plant species such as: Flemingia macrophylla, Pennisetum purpureum and Brachiara brizantha. The growth of the plants was verified according to the weekly monitoring of the morphological and physiological development. On the other hand, it applied the analysis of variance (One-Way ANOVA) through four repetitions of the treatments applied with a level of 5% and a probability of 95% respectively, indicating that there are significant differences between the average of concentrations of the 10 metals in the factors of Bioconcentration in the root, Bioconcentration in the aerial part of the plant and Translocation factor. The results allowed knowing that the heavy metals that accumulated mostly were: Cadmium in the roots and Lead in the aerial part of the plant; while the metal that moved from the root to the aerial part is the Arsenic. In conclusion, the most efficient plant species to carry out the phytoremediation processes is Flemingia macrophylla, since presented a higher concentration of bioaccumulated metals in the vegetative part of the plants.