Water pollution can be moved or limited by macrophytes in a phytoremediation process. The presence of insecticides in the plant life environment may affect physiological processes and contribute to the formation of secondary oxidative stress in plant tissues. To protect against oxidative stress, macrophytes have developed a system of mechanisms consisting of nonenzymatic and enzymatic antioxidants. The influence of various concentrations of chlorpyrifos on the nonenzymatic system in Canadian waterweed (Elodea canadensis Michx.), needle spikerush (Eleocharis acicularis) and water mint (Mentha aquatica L.) was studied. The differences in the value of the total concentration of polyphenols and flavonoids, as well as analysis of chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b, anthocyanin and carotenoid concentrations were determined in leaves. Research indicated a significant increase in the content of polyphenols and flavonoids in a solution with the highest concentration of chlorpyrifos while the opposite tendency was observed after analyses of the main assimilating pigments of plant tissues. It was concluded that aqueous plants exposed to toxic insecticide molecules created a defensive mechanism by nonenzymatic antioxidant systems and the amount of low-molecular weight compounds depended on the pollutant concentration which influenced biosynthesis mechanisms in plant cells.
Keywords: chlorpyrifos; macrophytes; nonenzymatic defense system; phytoremediation.