Olga Anatolyevna Chistova

Environmental toxicity assessment of roadside soils across Leningradskoe highway in Moscow region was carried out by rapid laboratory phytotest using two test cultures. The toxicity of soils was determined based on growth parameters inhibition of Lepidium sativum L. (cress) and Hordeum vulgare L. (rye). Topsoils (0-3 cm depth) were examined at the distance up to 300 m from the road pavement. Soil toxicity was determined on the most part of the studied territory and was characterized with bimodal distribution: it was maximal at the distance of several meters from the highway (highly toxic soils), sharply decreased at a distance of 7 m from it and gradually increased again towards the end of the studied zone (moderately toxic soils). The degree of phytotoxicity differentiated depending on the test culture variant: H. vulgare was characterized by a lower sensitivity to pollutants and did not reveal toxicity in the area of 7-25 m from the Leningradskoe highway, while L. sativum revealed the toxicity of soils all over the investigated territory. Among test parameters analyzed, the root length and length of the seedlings showed the greatest sensitivity to pollutants, while seed germination was not informative.