ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Water
Sec. Environmental Water Quality
This article is part of the Research TopicGeochemistry and Environmental Overview of Water Quality, Exposure, and Linkages to Livelihoods (GEO-WELL)View all articles
Toxicity identification evaluation of riverine water using seed germination: Lead toxicity in the Fen River's Taiyuan Section of China
Provisionally accepted
- Jinzhong University, Jinzhong, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
A phytotoxicity-based toxicity identification evaluation (TIE) approach was employed to identify toxic substances in river water, focusing on the Taiyuan section of the Fen River in China as a case study. Four vegetable seed species—amaranth, oilseed rape, cabbage, and lettuce—were selected for toxicity screening. An analysis of variance was performed on the germination index (GI%) of these seeds exposed to nine initial water samples from the Fen River. This analysis revealed that the sampling site with the lowest GI% was S6. Consequently, samples from the S6 site were used for subsequent TIE treatments, which included aeration, EDTA chelation, reduction with oxidizing agents, filtration, solid-phase extraction using C18, and pH adjustment. As a result, EDTA and its related treatment significantly improved seed viability across nearly all species, underscoring the role of cationic metals in contributing to toxicity. Correspondingly, ten metals in the initial water samples were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Linear correlations were observed between the concentrations of cobalt, chromium, nickel, and lead and the phytotoxicity observed in the four vegetable species, with correlation coefficients exceeding 0.5 (p < 0.01). Finally, Canonical correlation analysis suggested that exposure to lead in riverine water was most likely associated with the phytotoxic effects observed in oilseed rape and cabbage, contributing to overall toxicity. In conclusion, lead was confirmed as the primary toxicant responsible for the observed phytotoxic effects in oilseed rape and cabbage in the Fen River. Although metal concentrations remained below the Environmental Quality Standards for Surface Water thresholds, the identified ecological risks underscore the need for enhanced monitoring and management. The phytotoxicity-based TIE approach proved effective in identifying specific toxicants, providing valuable insights for water quality management and ecological risk assessment.
Keywords: Toxicity identification evaluation, Metals, Water, phytotoxicity, river
Received: 18 Sep 2025; Accepted: 03 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Qi, Liu, Wang, Li and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lihong Li, lihong413413@163.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.