Camelina Sativa Crop-Instrument for Phytoremediation or Safe Culture Grown on Contaminated Soil?

Abstract

Abstract The decontamination and detoxification of pesticides-contaminated soils is a tough task, due to their persistence and mobility. Camelina sativa is resistant to pests and weeds which affect similar crops mostly due to its unique defence system, attributed tocamalexin and metoxi-camalexin. Considering this, camelina may be cultivated without input of pesticides, but what happens if camelina is cultivated on an already pesticide-contaminated soil? The purpose of the study is to analyze the Camelina sativa potential to concentrate or not the residual pesticides from the soil in its seeds.It was assessed the level of pesticides from the soil on which Camelina sativa-Mădălina variety was cultivated and from the resulted seeds. The quantification was done using a GC-MS-MS equipment. In the soil it was found a total amount of 0.03 mg/kg of pesticides consisting in: o,p-DDE, p,p-DDE, o,p-DDD, o,p-DDT, p,p-DDT, from which 81.4% was p,p-DDE. All the signals registered for camelina seeds were below the LOQ of 0.005mg/kg. Camelina sativa-Mădălina variety can be cultivated on soils contaminated with DDT and its metabolites, minimizing the risk of pesticides translocation.