Determination of the Environmental Pollution Potential of Some Herbicides by the Assessment of Cytotoxic and Genotoxic Effects on .

The present study aims to evaluate the potential for the pollution of the environment by two herbicides (quizalofop-p-ethyl and cycloxydim), using the test. The species in question is (onion, 2 = 16), one of the most common plant indicators of environmental pollution. The working method consisted of obtaining the meristematic roots of and their treatment with herbicides at three different concentrations (0.5%, 1%, and 1.5%) for each herbicide for 24 h, for comparison with an untreated control. The results obtained from the cytological study indicated a strong cytotoxic and genotoxic effect for both herbicides, but especially for quizalofop-p-ethyl, where the mitotic index decreased from 30.2% (control) to 9.6% for the variant treated with 1.5% herbicide. In this case, a strong mitodepressive effect was shown by a highly significant percentage (35.4%) of chromosomal aberrations and nuclear alterations: stickiness, fragments, C-mitosis, lobulated nucleus, micronuclei, and nuclear erosion. The mitodepressive effect as well as the percentage of chromosomal aberrations increased with a higher herbicide concentration. The obtained results suggest the strong potential for pollution of the two herbicides, particularly at concentrations higher than 0.5%; therefore, we recommend caution in their use to avoid undesirable effects on the environment.