The biometrics techniques for the assessment of the degree of adoption of toxic and essential elements

Abstract

The focus of this study is on the biometric classification of plants, plant organs, sampling sites and sampling time, in terms of toxic (As, Cd, Hg and Pb) and essential elements (Cu and Zn) monitoring, and possible the application in phyto-remediation. The degree of adoption of elements depends on the plant species and its morphological and physiological properties, therefore the adoption of toxic and essential elements in three plant species (coltsfoot, dandelion and nettles) was investigated. Vegetation experiments were carried out in the coastal region of river Kriveljska, Serbia. Principal component analysis and analysis of variance were used for assessing the effect of plant types, plant organs (root, shoot and leaves), and sampling sites and sampling time (April, May, June) on toxic and essential elements uptake. Obtained results showed that a difference in toxic and essential elements uptake depends mostly upon the cultivar and the plant organ types. Biometric techniques provided a good opportunity for a better understanding the behaviour of plants and obtaining much more useful information from the original data.