Assessment of sediment pollution using chemical and biological trait approach

The chemical and biological trait approach have been applied to sediment pollution assessment of the Veliki Bački canal (Serbia) –VBC. For this assessment, pseudo-total metal contents, pollution load index (PLI), contamination factor (CF), enrichment factor (EF), sequential extraction procedure (SEP), pore water metal concentrations, geoaccumulation factor (Igeo), sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) and risk assessment code (RAC) have been used. Furthermore, the phytotoxic effects of the contaminated sediment have been assessed according to the physiological and morphological trait changes of the test plant species (maize, white mustard, barley and cucumber) in a bioassay. The chemical analysis has shown that an assessed sediment from VBC is extremely polluted with Cd, Zn, Ni whereas pore water is polluted with Cu, Zn, Ni. The results which have been acquired in plant bioassays indicate the different sensitivity of the plants. While pore water from the contaminated sediment had no effect on maize traits, it considerably inhibited the physiological and morphological traits of barley, cucumber and white mustard. These species are potentially good indicators of impaired sediment quality.