Utilizing Morphological and Physiological Parameters of Lemna minor for Assessing Tetracyclines’ Removal

Abstract

Antibiotics with significant environmental toxicity, e.g., tetracyclines (TCs), are often used in large quantities worldwide, with 50–80% of the applied dose ending up in the environment. This study aimed to investigate the effects of exposure to tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) and minocycline hydrochloride (MIN) on L. minor. Our research evaluated the phytotoxicity of the TCs by analyzing plant growth and biomass and evaluating assimilation pigment levels and fluorescence. The research was extended with the ability potential of duckweed as a tool for removing TCs from water/wastewater. The results demonstrated that both TCs influenced Ir, Iy, biomass, and photosynthetic efficiency. The uptake of TC and MIN by duckweed was proportional to the concentration in the growth medium. The TC was absorbed more readily, reaching up to 8.09 mg × g−1 of dry weight (DW) at the highest concentration (19.2 mg × L−1), while MIN reached 6.01 mg × g−1 of DW. As indicated, the consequences of the influence of TC on plants were slightly smaller, in comparison to MIN, while the plants could biosorb this drug, even at the lowest tested concentration. This study has shown that using plants for drug biosorption can be an effective standalone or complementary method for water and wastewater treatment.